Isis' Bane and the Goblet of Fire
by althor42
Summary: Sequel to Isis' bane: Tar'Chell's Wrath. Years have passed, and Harry lives his life at peace, exploring the galaxy. He takes an offer to go to Atlantis, to do amazing things. He thinks he knows where his life is taking him. Voldemort has other plans.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: If you haven't been paying attention for the last eighteen chapters (plus another eighteen for New Home) I don't own this. JK Rowling owns Harry Potter, MGM owns Stargate. I wait for the day men in black suits come bursting through the door to reclaim what I've been using, and I end up in a dark cell thousands of feet under the Earth's surface. When that day comes, remember me well. But until then, I'm going to keep on pushing out the HP/SG X-Over that you guys love (remember, you love it enough to write lots of reviews). And so, without further ado:

Growing Up

Quidditch is exciting. It is good to be at the World Cup. The air is nice and fresh. Long games are better. My father was nice to-

The Haze lifted, and for a moment his mind cleared. Quidditch was a pointless game for so long as the muggle lovers were in power. Games were irrelevant until he could find his Lord and restore him to power. Bartimus vowed to kill his father slowly if he ever got the chance, for the twelve years that he had been kept prisoner while his Lord needed him. He had to-

It is very important to stay still and seated. Quidditch is nice. The Irish chaser had the Quaffle. He's going to-

Bartimus struggled to keep his mind clear; he took in as much of his surroundings as he could, used as much brainpower as he could to analyze and plan. He was in the back right corner of the top Quidditch box, surrounded by politicians and teenagers. He needed a wand if he was to have any chance of breaking the spell on him permanently. He cast his eyes around at the spectators around him, being careful not to alert the house elf next to him to the fact that he was himself once more. There, a wand poking out of the breast pocket of one of the red headed boys in front of him. Carefully, Bartimus reached over the boy's shoulder with an invisible hand and gently fished it out. In the excitement of the game, the boy did not notice, but the frightened elf next to him did, having noticed the still visible wand through the crack in the fingers covering her face.

Before Winky could react, Bartimus cast the Imperious curse on her, before finally removing the one on himself. It felt as though a great weight had come off from his shoulders. Then he gave Winky her commands: act as though nothing had happened; when we return home, inform father that the game was uneventful; when you go shopping, purchase asphodel root and Acromantula venom; make an intinction of them and place ten drops of it in a drink for my father; it is a medicine he needs, but will not take on his own. Anyone who had bothered to find out knew that a house elf could almost always break the curse if ordered to murder their master, but that didn't mean they couldn't be tricked.

Bartimus leaned back in his seat. They couldn't arrive home early without arousing suspicion, and he truly did love Quidditch. Soon though, his father would be dead, and he would be on his way to finding his master.

!

'Adolescence sucks,' Harry thought as he stared at his fuzzy face in the bathroom mirror. The thought was rich, coming from him; Harry experienced no acne, no growing pains as his body slowly but inexorably transformed to adulthood. Mood swings were virtually, if not entirely, non-existent. Too, Harry knew exactly what to expect better than any teen; nothing surprised him. It was all thanks to what he had taken from Isis, the healing abilities and the knowledge. Of course, the projected growth simulation he'd created had helped as well. Sirius had called that cheating; Harry had called it a tactical advantage and hexed Sirius's socks.

It wasn't as though Harry was in a hurry to grow up, though. He had enough of a reputation that he could be taken seriously almost anywhere he went. On the other hand, having your voice break three times in one conversation with a beautiful princess made you look ridiculous. And it sucked. Harry also wasn't sure how he felt about matching his name's homonym. In a way, it was as though Harry had become a man the day he had freed himself from Isis. A part of Harry felt as though he should have stopped growing then.

Still, after a quick look around to see if anyone was watching (though the ship was empty), Harry couldn't resist flexing in the mirror. After a couple of poses, he admonished himself for being silly and continued his morning ablutions. He was interrupted by a mental message from his hand device, which told him that someone from Earth was trying to contact him. A wave of Harry's hand sent magic to wash away the fuzz on his face, before Harry splashed himself with water from the sink. He was already on his way to the bridge when another wave of his hand dried him off. After a quick mental command, he felt comfortable clothes settle on his body with a slight hum.

The bridge was a close walk from Harry's quarters, everything was. Though his ship was far from small, the living and working areas were compact. Harry had done his best to be original in his designs of his ships livable areas. He had rejected the opulence of the goa'uld, the rigid functionality of the Air Force, and the surgical neatness of the Tollans. Harry had opted for something warmer; something that would be a home. Sirius had helped a lot, transfiguring strong and functional materials into something softer. Polished wood featured heavily around the ship, and many rooms and hallways had either wooden or carpeted floors. Even the bridge more closely resembled a living room than anything else.

Harry opened a connection to the SG-C as he stepped through the sliding doors before sinking into the comfortable command chair. To the sides of him, faux windows showed a sunny mountain view.

"Hey Daniel, hey Sam," Harry greeted.

"Hello Harry," said Daniel with a very satisfied look on his face. Sam echoed him.

"I know why you're going to Atlantis," said Daniel.

Harry smiled. "I've told you," he said. "I want to go to Atlantis. I will, one day, go to Atlantis. But when I do, I doubt you'd be able to drag me away again. I'm just too busy here."

"I think it's great that you're chasing down Arthurian legend through the galaxy Harry, but you don't know what the Sangraal even is, or what it's for."

"Just because I don't know what it's for, doesn't mean that it isn't important."

"First of all," said Daniel-

"The Ancients were trying to draw zero-point energy from our own universe for a near limitless power source," Sam interrupted.

Harry paused. "I'll get my stuff together."

"I know you so well," said Daniel, letting the "I told you so" hang in the air. And it was true. Harry and Daniel had gotten to know each other very well working with together to uncover the secrets of the galaxy left behind by the Ancients. Harry had learned written Ancient from Daniel, and a smattering of conversational Ancient.

"We have some preliminary data for you to review," said Sam, "you want to swing by before you head out?"

"Earth's in the opposite direction," Harry pointed out.

"You just upgraded your engines," said Sam. "It'll take you all of... what?" she asked, not knowing where Harry actually was in the galaxy.

"Ten minutes," said Harry, "which turns into twenty. I'll gate over and send my ship ahead to the edge of the galaxy."

Sam rolled her eyes. "See you soon," she said

Harry ended the transmission and opened another one to Tollana. His signal was was routed through the Tollan communications system, and a moment later, Harry was looking at Sirius.

"Harry," the man said with a smile, "to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I've got to say goodbye for a while, Sirius" said Harry.

"Oh," said Sirius, "why's that?"

"Science is happening in another galaxy," said Harry, "and I'm not about to miss out on it."

"Atlantis?" asked Sirius.

"Yes," said Harry.

"Isn't there always science going on there?" asked Sirius.

"Yes," said Harry, "but this is really, really cool science."

"Alright," said Sirius, "have fun, stay safe, and stay in touch."

"I will," said Harry, "I'll come back for a visit in a while if things are going slowly."

They said their goodbyes, and Harry jumped down to the dusty, and nearly lifeless planet below. A hand on the DHD set the gate spinning, though he pressed no buttons. The vortex flushed out in seconds, and Harry stepped through.

The Gate Room of the SG-C had changed little over the years. Outwardly, anyways. Harry knew that many hidden defenses had been added over the years. There were automated mini-guns hiding in the walls, which could be set to hail fire on anything that came through the Stargate. The personnel that defended the room could make use of a few foot-thick, three-foot-high walls that rose from the ground for defense. Harry didn't know all of the bases new defenses, but a foothold situation from less than a year ago had been cause for much innovation.

Sam and Daniel were waiting at the bottom of the gate ramp, standing on either side of General Landry. After years of threatening to, General Hammond had finally retired a couple of years ago when he had felt the galaxy was stable enough. Colonel O'Neill, a General now, had taken his place for a while, but he now worked out of the Pentagon, coordinating all off-world activity.

"So," said Harry with a grin, "show me what you've got."

!

As it turned out, they didn't have much for him. The bulk of the data was in the Pegasus galaxy, but there was enough to leave him intrigued. He wound up pondering the problem for all of the weeklong journey. He very nearly went stir-crazy.

Harry was beaming when he finally jumped down to the Atlantis gate room. As though to mirror the SG-C, Dr. Weir stood sandwiched between Doctors Zelenka and McKay in front of the Stargate to greet him. From the landing above, Major Sheppard came down to join them.

Harry looked around in wonder. Atlantis was everything he had expected and more. He could immediately identify Ancient architectural themes in the gate room and the towers visible out the windows from his own travels. But here, everything was pristine, perfect, beautiful.

"Captain Potter," said Doctor Weir warmly, "I believe I speak for everyone in the city when I say 'welcome'."

"Thank you, Doctor Weir," said Harry, and damn the crack in his voice, "but you can call me Harry. It's been a while since I thought of myself by that title."

"Well then I insist you call me Elizabeth. I know that you know Doctor McKay, have you met Colonel Sheppard and Doctor Zelenka?"

"I met both in passing the day you all embarked," said Harry as he stepped forward to shake the Colonel's hand. "Hello again, Colonel," he said, before turning to Doctor Zelenka. "Ahoj , Doktor Zelenka. Jak se máš?"

"Now when did you learn to speak Czech?" asked Elizabeth as Doctor Zelenka answered, "Dobře, díky."

"Oh, I didn't," said Harry, "I've just learned to say 'Hi, how are you,' in as many languages as I could."

"Of course you did," said Doctor McKay.

"What else is a guy to do when he's spending days at a time in hyperspace?" asked Harry.

"I try to catch up on my reading," said the Colonel.

"Well," said Doctor McKay, "I think we have something to keep your interest for a while."

"I don't doubt it," said Harry.

"Well," said Elizabeth, "you'll want to settle in. We've prepared a room for you; I know John will be happy to show you the way."

"Thank you," said Harry warmly. The two of them left the gate room.

Harry felt like a tourist. He couldn't stop staring at the things around him and asking questions. The Colonel answered patiently as they made their way to a closet that turned out to be a transport room, taking them instantly to another section of the city. The Ancients, it seemed, had done away with ring platforms. Indeed, they had done away with much of the design that had predominated the ruins left in the Milky Way galaxy. Gone were the stone structures, to be replaced by what Harry could only describe as more nature based architecture, though the city was conspicuously lacking in foliage. In a way, Harry thought it was like a forest, rising up from the ocean.

The room that the Colonel showed him to was a sizable suite, with a balcony that looked out to the horizon.

"...and that's how we discovered the under water drilling platform," he was saying as they came to a stop.

"Fascinating," said Harry.

"Well, as you can see, you have everything you need in here. Bed room's there," he pointed, "bath room, kitchenette. Everything's stocked and loaded."

"It looks fine," said Harry.

"Good," said the Colonel. "I'll let you settle in. There's a meeting about the project at o-four-hundred hours SG-C time." Harry mentally translated that to thirteen hundred hours, local time, which was in two hours. "Will you be able to find your way back to the control tower."

"Yup," said Harry.

"Rodney left you a tablet with all of the data we've compiled. I hope it's not too short notice for you."

"I'm sure I'll do okay," said Harry. "When will we be going to the project site?"

"I'll be flying you and the rest of the science team over there tomorrow."

"Alright," said Harry. "I better get busy then."

"I'll leave you to it," said Colonel Sheppard.

"Thank, but um..."

"Yes?"

"You think I might be able to take a spin on your jumper tomorrow?"

"Well I don't know, do you have the Ancient gene?"

"Quite strongly, actually."

"I know you have your own ship," said the Major, "but flying a jumper isn't quite like-"

"I haven't met a bird I couldn't fly," said Harry.

"Oh really," said Sheppard. "F-302."

"Check," said Harry.

"Helicopter?"

"Check."

"Hm, goa'uld fighter?"

"Death glider, check." Sirius thought it might be some kind of magical ability, like Parceltongue. There was some kind of intuition in Harry that let him fly anything.

"Impressive," said the Colonel, "sure, why not? I'll see you later."

Alone, Harry walked over to the table where the tablet lay. He sat down and placed a hand on the tablet as he closed his eyes and entered the device.

Data flit past Harry's consciousness for his perusal, and Harry basked in it. Fascinated, Harry looked at the data from every angle; amazing ideas, troubling problems, and inventive solutions were examined. After about half an hour, Harry pulled back to mull things over. 'Yes,' he thought, 'this should be very possible.'

!

It had taken Bartimus too long to find his master. Far too long. Now there was so much to do, and so little time to do it in. Still, Bartimus could be proud of himself, not many wizards could have used the Dark Mark to find Voldemort. That pride could only go so far though, if he had only thought to do it thirteen years ago, he would have found his master then, and not spent the intervening years in captivity.

Bartimus looked around himself in disgust, he hated the muggle world. He walked forward, feeling out of sorts in his muggle clothing. He had a mission though, one that had to be completed quietly and swiftly. There was so little time before he was to subdue Alastor Moody. With a notice-me-not charm on, he walked into the elementary school without anyone paying him any mind; the bustle of lunchtime helped him in that regard. He walked down the school corridors, reading the nameplates on the doors. After a few minutes search, he found what he was looking for.

Bartimus walked into the classroom of Maria Teeple. He walked up to her and cleared his throat, breaking the charm and drawing her attention. She looked up from a sandwich and started.

"Goodness, you surprised me. Can I help you?"

Bartimus didn't say anything, he just pulled out a large and wicked knife; his wand would have been more natural, but she wouldn't react as well to that. Teeple stood abruptly and took a step back.

"I don't know what you want," she said, fear clear in her voice, "but I'm sure-"

He was on her in an instant, she was too scared to scream, and then he had the blade against her throat.

"You once had a student named Harry Potter. Did you not?"

Teeple nodded jerkily, tears escaping from her eyes.

"I happen to need something, anything, that he's written his name on. Do you still have something like that?" She stood there, stock still. "Sometimes, teachers keep their students' old work. Give me one of his, and I won't hurt any of your students."

"I- I have some..."

"Where?"

"They're..."

"They're not here, are they?" She shook her head. "Then they're at your home. Once I have his name, then I can leave." He whispered in her ear. "Come along, Miss Teeple. Let's go home." He pulled on her arm, lowering his knife and leading her to the door. "Nice and easy, does it. Wipe those tears, and act naturally. We wouldn't want any of your students getting in my way, would we?"

Teeple shook her head, scrubbing at the tears on her face.

Bartimus walked behind her on the way to her car. He wanted to kill her, this muggle who had nurtured the boy who had brought down his master; she had loved him enough to keep his work. But he couldn't today. He couldn't bring any notice. Maybe when the year was done, and his master was reborn he could come back. Maybe he could make her scream.

Harry had a lot more names to remember as he sat at the large table in the conference room. Colonel Sheppard's team was all there, as was Colonel Caldwell, and a number of scientists.

"Now that we're all here," started Doctor Weir at the head of the conference table, "I would like to welcome Captain Harry Potter. Technically a US and British citizen, I believe he currently calls Tollana his home." Harry nodded. "He is also one of the foremost experts in both Goa'uld and Ancient technology in any galaxy. However, it is his expertise in zero-point energy that has brought him here."

There were polite nods and greetings from around the table. A tan woman with long brown hair spoke up.

"Captain Potter, is your appearance deceiving?"

Harry smiled, he wasn't the only one, "No, Ms..."

"Teyla Emmagan," she supplied, "of the Athosian people. You may call me Teyla."

"Teyla," said Harry, "you may call me Harry. I'm only slightly older than I appear. On Earth, I'll be fourteen in a little under a month. I assure you though, in spite of my age, I am more than capable."

"Yes," said Doctor Weir, "as I understand it, Harry here played a large part in helping to neutralize the threat of the goa'uld in our own galaxy."

Harry nodded modestly. "However," he said, "I'm not here to fight, I'm here to talk science."

"Yes," said Elizabeth, "and since yours are the freshest eyes to look at this problem, why don't we hear from you first?"

"Um, alright," said Harry. "I'd like to start by asking about the incident from the first time you tried to operate the device. The sensor readings were nearly incomprehensible when things started to go wrong."

Doctor McKay began to describe what had happened to nearly destroy the research base.

"Hold on," Harry interrupted him, manually checking his tablet, having learned that doing so mentally while talking to other people was rude. Just before the incident, it had been mentioned that the containment field had been adjusted manually. "Didn't you have a man in that access way?"

"Yes," said Doctor McKay.

There was no way that anyone in that area to have survived the intense radiation. "I'm so sorry for your loss."

"Thank you," said Doctor McKay stonily.

"You must know, there was no way to foresee or reasonably prevent-"

"I do," said Doctor McKay, with finality.

"I'm surprised that Colonel Carter and Doctor Jackson didn't inform you of the incident themselves," said Doctor Weir after a moment.

"Oh, they know how important I find my work in the Milky Way galaxy. I suspect they didn't want me to feel obligated to come. Now um, as to my thoughts on the project, I suppose you're planning to dial back the power and manipulate the shielding around the core manually?"

"That's right," said Doctor McKay.

"It won't work," said Harry.

"What? You can't know that," said Rodney.

"Yes," said Harry, "I can. You see, the thing about zero-point energy is, the more energy you draw, the more exotic particles you generate. The more exotic particles you create, the less that that area of space conforms to the laws of physics in our own space-time. It would be nearly impossible to control that."

"But the laws of physics are-"

"The best we have to go by, but that doesn't mean that our understanding is perfect. Trust me, exotic particles are game changers."

"So do you have an idea of your own, or are you just here to shoot down the only plan we have?"

"We use magic," said Harry.

There was another moment of silence. Harry was used to those.

"I do not understand," said Teyla.

"He's talking about the zero-point energy that his body generates," said Rodney. "Apparently there are people on Earth that call it magic."

"We think, anyway," said Harry.

"It's a ridiculous notion," Rodney went on, "calling it 'magic'. I mean, any sufficiently advanced science, in this case biological process that performs advanced-"

"I know, Doctor. There's nothing supernatural about it. Still, not only does it seem that that's what most of it's users call it, it also amuses me to refer to it as such," said Harry, thinking of his relatives and their hate of magic.

"So, you want to shield the experiment yourself?" asked Doctor Zelenka, bringing them back on subject

"Oh, no," said Harry. "I'd say there's a good chance that would be suicide."

"The Tollans," said Rodney, "they created a mechanical analogue of you."

"Exactly," said Harry.

"I do not understand," said Teyla, "if the technology already exists to do this safely, then why are we here?"

"What I can do is very versatile," said Harry, "but it isn't very powerful. You never get much more back than what you put in, relatively speaking. It is that versatility that I propose we put to use."

"Fight fire with fire," said Rodney.

"Exactly," said Harry.

"I don't understand," said Colonel Sheppard, "how would a magical shield be superior to a regular one?"

"When I say that magic is versatile," said Harry, "I don't just mean as a whole. A single spell can accomplish a goal in spite of unforeseen obstacles. It can adapt itself to aspects of its surroundings that the caster isn't even aware of."

"And how quickly could we have one of these devices at the project site?" asked Colonel Caldwell.

"Well," said Harry, "I guess as soon as you can build one and move it there."

More silence.

"Of course," said Rodney, "the Tollans don't share their technology."

"And I don't share their technology either," said Harry. "I may not have accepted citizenship there, but that is one rule of theirs that I do respect."

The Tollans had offered him citizenship a couple of years back, with the stipulation that he accept Tollan laws. The offer had been tempting to Harry; Tollana had become his home. However, Harry could never accept the Tollan level of noninterference, which had come back full force after the war, so he hadn't accepted. It wasn't long after Harry's discovery that there was an Ancient outpost somewhere on Earth that the Tollans had put a cap on his education. Until Harry could leave lesser-developed races to themselves, they wouldn't help him do it. Still, Harry called Tollana his home, and so long as he did, he would respect their right to keep their technology to themselves.

"If you can't get us the technology we need," said Colonel Caldwell, "then why bring it up?"

"Do you mean we get to design one from scratch?" asked Rodney with a little excitement.

"What he said," said Harry, pointing at Rodney.

"We already know a lot about your physiology," said Rodney. "If we could just get you under a scanner or five, I don't see why we couldn't develop this for ourselves."

"I give you a month," said Harry, "probably less."

"Well good," said Elizabeth, "Rodney, I'll expect your proposal with what you will need in a few hours. I'm giving this project a green light."

"Will we still be going to the project site tomorrow?" asked Harry.

"Yes," said Doctor Weir, "I want you as familiar with that base as you are with your own ship." A tall order, considering Harry had designed his ship.

"Yes, Ma'am," said Harry.

!

Albus Dumbledore sighed wearily. He had more than enough on his plate right then, with both the beginning of another school year, and the up coming tri-wizard tournament. Yet Fudge still insisted on coming to him for all problems that turned up for the World Cup. It had almost skipped his mind entirely that, in a little over two weeks, Harry Potter would be fourteen. If he was still alive that was. There were times when Albus nearly lost hope of finding the boy.

Still, Albus wasn't going to give up. He still didn't know how much faith he put into prophecies, but he couldn't imagine that Harry would be done in by anything but Voldemort, unless Voldemort was killed first. He knew that Riddle was still alive, as he had long believed. Riddle had given himself away two and a half years ago when Albus had hidden the Philosopher's stone under the Shrieking Shack.

Unfortunately, that had not been the last time that Hogwarts had been troubled by him. Only one year later, one of Riddle's Horcruxes had run amok in his school. Many of his students had been petrified, and one had been possessed and traumatized by the ordeal. Thankfully, her brother and his friend had figured things out and gone to Professor McGonagall, who had stunned the poor Weasley girl in the back. It was not before a student was bitten by a basilisk though, a poor young Hufflepuff second year.

Albus was feeling his age. He had promised long ago that no student would die at Hogwarts while he was headmaster, and he had failed. Of course, it had been a worthless promise to begin with; no one could assure the future. It didn't mean that he wouldn't do his damnedest to try. He would see Harry Potter safe, and Voldemort defeated. He only hoped that it wasn't the last thing he did.

And yet, what if Harry was not on Earth? As ridiculous as it seemed, that was what it all seemed to come back to, from the very beginning. Albus's own tracking charms had shown Harry leaving the planet. Then there were references to 'Sky Chariots' that Remus had found. Later, an attempt to translate certain hieroglyphics had led them to the writings of a man who many said believed that the ancient pyramids had been landing pads for aliens. At first glance it was all very absurd, but when one rules out the impossible, sometimes you had to accept the absurd. If it were true, then Albus had hit a wall as to what he could do to find Harry. The most powerful of Portkeys reached just short of the moon, the most talented of scryers had never seen anything past mercury. There seemed to be no recourse for finding someone who was off of the planet; at least, there was no safe one.

Thus, Albus was left with nothing to do but search on Earth, as he completed his many other duties. There was, Albus reflected, no rest for the weary.

After a day of being poked, prodded, and scanned, it was nice to take some time to star gaze, which wasn't to say that Harry knew any of the stars that were visible from Atlantis, or from anywhere in the Pegasus galaxy, for that matter. He was still content to lie out atop the slightly warm roof of the control tower.

Harry hoped that he had made the right decision in coming to Atlantis. Obviously, the Arcturus project was possibly the most important discovery in known history, but Harry still felt that he had left important work left undone. He still didn't know why the Sangraal was so important but he did. It was as though someone whispered the words to him every night as he slept. The idea was there, but he couldn't quite process it. It would come to him, some day.

"You know you're laying on top of a retracting roof, right?" asked a voice his perimeter alert had let him know was coming.

"Sure," said Harry, "but I'd know if it were about to open up. Plus, I'm thinking it has sensors for just this reason, being that you knew how to find me Colonel Shepherd."

"Fair enough," said the Colonel.

"And you, Doctor McKay, you're not here to poke more holes into me, are you?"

"Can't a guy just come to be social?" asked the scientist. Harry hadn't thought that social was in the man's repertoire. "Actually, I was hoping you could go over some of the data from the scanners with me."

Harry smiled. "Do you guys know any of the local constellations?" More than one person had complained about his tendency to change subjects suddenly.

"Um, Doctor Samuel found a catalogue of constellations in the hologram room," said Rodney, "but they had all changed since the Ancients had left."

Colonel Shepherd got down a couple feet next to him. "The Athosians started coming up with some almost as soon as they got here," he said. "Jinto, he's a little younger than you named my favorite, the Puddle Jumper constellation," he said, pointing. Harry had to agree that it did look like the Ancient transport craft. "That one there is the warrior."

"I think the Nox are the only people I've come across that haven't named a warrior in the sky."

"The Nox?" asked the Colonel.

"A highly advanced species in the Milky Way," said Rodney, who'd taken a seat on the low wall of the tower, "mostly isolationist and very pacifistic."

"I spent a few weeks with them after the war against Anubis," said Harry.

"They teach you any of their science?" asked the Colonel.

"Nah," said Harry with a laugh. "They're worse than the Tollans. One of them, Lya, took me hiking in the forest though."

"Hiking?" asked Rodney, dubiously.

"It was an amazing experience," said Harry. "There are still times when I wish I were back there."

"Yeah, Rodney," said the Colonel, "there's nothing wrong with a good hike."

"Oh, I've had plenty of hiking experience, thank you very much," said Rodney, who must have been referring to his off world missions.

"So I've got to ask," said the Colonel.

"Yeah?" asked Harry.

"I get that you've got the whole goa'uld mind sucking thing going for you," the Colonel started.

"Um..."

"But still, how do you wind up out here?"

"Well," said Harry, trying to organize his thoughts, "when Sam and Daniel told me about-"

"Nah, nah, I get it; greatest scientific discovery of all time; power source of all power sources. But from what I understand, if you weren't out here, specifically, you'd be out there finding Ancient artifacts."

"He wants to know why you're not hitting on girls at parties," Rodney supplied. "Or going to football games."

"Among other..." the Colonel searched for the right word.

"Normal," Harry offered.

"...teenaged activities."

"First of all," said Harry, "I'm only thirteen, so, barely a teenager." The Colonel waved his hand dismissively. "Plus, I mean, there's just so much out there. It's more than even I could fit into a lifetime."

"Oh please," said Rodney, "even I went to parties." The Colonel scoffed. "What? You don't think I'm capable of going to a party?"

"No, I'm sure you are," said the Colonel unconvincingly. "But see, even Rodney McKay went to parties."

"Well then," said Harry, "I guess it's more than that really. Even now after I've defeated Anubis, I still feel like there's something we need to get ready for, another storm to weather, and it's not the goa'uld, and it's not the Wraith." He rubbed at his forehead.

"I'd say it's kind of narcissistic to put the fate of the universe on your own shoulders," said the Colonel, "but we're kind of the worst offenders."

"I wouldn't say-" Rodney started.

"Especially you," said the Colonel, somewhat forcefully.

"I can hardly help it if I happen to be the smartest person here," said Rodney.

"There, see?" said the Colonel.

"Still," said Harry, "I do a lot of normal person things."

"Oh please," said Rodney, "I don't think that word can describe you in any context."

"I wouldn't say-"

"Case in point," said Rodney, "you are the only person, probably in existence, who's clothing can literally and completely fail from a single glitch in programming."

"Hey, that only happened once. Every new technology has its early stages where things like that are worked out."

"Say what now?" asked the Colonel.

"His clothes are half illusion, half advanced nanotechnology. If that anklet he's wearing runs out of juice, he's left with nothing."

"Why?" asked the Colonel.

"A lot of reasons," said Harry defensively. "It gives me whatever I need, so I can go from scorching desert to winter wonderland without missing a beat. Also, when I jump from place to place, if I'm particularly distracted, I can leave some or all of my clothes behind. This keeps that from happening."

What Harry didn't mention was that when Sirius had realized this, he had started setting up elaborate practical jokes that had the goal of causing Harry to jump away in surprise. Sirius had found it hilarious. Harry disagreed and had wound up threatening him with banishment to a world primarily inhabited with large cats. That had been the primary driving drive for Harry to develop the technology.

"Yeah," said the Colonel, "Rodney's got a point."

Harry sighed. "I know."

!

As Harry sat at the control chair of his ship above Atlantis, he felt an anxiety that he had thought left behind in his war against Anubis. It had been a long three months.

The Arcturus project had gone well; after the magical generators had been constructed, Harry had consulted with Sirius concerning the best shield spell to use. They had studied every shield charm that Sirius could remember, and found none that did what they wanted. Eventually, they had to combine aspects from various energy matrices to form a shield that had all of the aspects needed to change instantly at need, and stand up to any exotic particle. The experiment had been a success, and they were able to channel unprecedented levels of energy through it at its highest capacity.

On the other hand, Harry estimated that they were three years away from actually replicating the technology, say on Atlantis or Earth. Shipboard generators would be even further out. Still, Rodney was working on a way to power Atlantis from the Arcturus device, through the Stargate. It would be a way to power the shield and chair at full capacity in an emergency, and Rodney was always saying he was inches from finishing it.

It was an interesting project, but Harry had bigger fish to fry. He had expected to be in and out; take part in the greatest experiment of all time and cut. Harry had other priorities now though. It had started out small, Harry had seen a survivor of a Wraith feeding, and began working with Doctor Becket on finding a weakness in Wraith physiology in his spare time. Then he had been invited to accompany Colonel Shepherd's team to go to investigate an Ancient warship where, wonder of wonders, they had found actual live ancients in suspended animation. Living Ancients who wound up sacrificing themselves in order to avoid falling into Wraith hands. That's when the Wraith really became Harry's enemy, his priority. The situation in the Pegasus galaxy was so wrong, and Harry just couldn't turn his back on it. Harry began going on other missions, and lending the use of his ship.

Now, things had come to a head. At least some of the Wraith knew about Atlantis, and now intended to finally destroy it. Harry didn't mean to let that happen, and so with the Daedalus right alongside him, he sat ready to defend the city. In only thirty minutes, according Doctor Zelenka's estimates, the enemy ships would arrive. However, at that moment, two-point-three million light years away, Harry's name came out of the Goblet of Fire. Harry disappeared.

A/N: There you have it, the first chapter to the next leg of Harry's journey. I hope you enjoyed it, please tell me what you thought about it.


	2. 01 Tournament

Disclaimer: Don't own it, not even a little.

Tournament

Ron walked to the Gryffindor table for breakfast with his head in a book on charms.

"Don't think I don't know that you're bluffing, Ron Weasley."

Ron looked up at Hermione as he sat down across from her. "I don't care what you think, 'Mione. I'm going to beat you on today's Charms test whatever you think I'm studying."

"Whatever you say, Ron. I'll see you up in defense. Make sure you eat some brain food." Clearly she thought defense was where Ron was focusing his attention.

Ron waited until she left to change the book for his Transfiguration text. It was easily his worst subject, and Hermione would never expect him to beat her on the essay due at the end of the week.

When they had become friends over the events of their second year, their mutual animosity had turned into a more friendly competition. Ron could never compete with Hermione's ability to do excellent across the board, but by focusing on one thing at a time, sometimes, he could best her. She'd beat him at charms today, but with a little work, Ron could beat her on that essay.

"Hey Ron," said Ginny, who plopped down next to him. "So I think I know a way to get around Dumbledore's wards."

Ron sighed. "Ginny, you're thirteen," he said exasperatedly. "What do you think is going to happen if you have to compete in one of those tasks? You wouldn't even be chosen anyway."

"So what do you have to worry about then?" asked Ginny heatedly.

"Look, why would you want to compete in something like this in the first place?"

"Oh, don't tell me you haven't thought of it yourself." Ron couldn't, he had gone to bed fantasizing about being chosen. "Maybe I just want you to stop treating me like a little girl."

"I don't treat you like a little girl," said Ron, "I treat you like a _thirteen_ year old girl. Only one year younger than me. Merlin, I'd be killed if I competed."

"I'm not you, big brother," said Ginny. "But you don't have anything to worry about, it's not like the Cup would choose a little thing like me."

Ron watched frustrated as she got up and walked away, going to sit with their twin older brothers, who were probably just going to encourage her after their own failure to bypass Dumbledore's age line. In the wake of Ernie Macmillan's death at the mouth of a Basilisk, Ginny had changed. There wasn't a thrill that she didn't seek out, a rule or social convention she wouldn't challenge. In her second year, Ginny had made numerous forays into the forbidden forest, taken frigid morning plunges into the lake, and kissed no fewer than four boys in Ron's year alone. Her penchant for pranks rivaled that of the twins, though they had fortunately never joined forces to Ron's knowledge. Just this last summer, Ginny had started a romance with a local muggle boy nearly two years older than herself. Ron didn't know what she saw in him, as the lad had barely been able to string a sentence together, and came from a 'burn the witches' sort of religious background. Ron didn't know quite what it was that drove his sister, but he frequently worried about what would happen if she got the seeker position that would open next year. He couldn't remember how many times their mother had banned Ginny from flying because of the death defying stunts she would try to pull.

With a shake of his head, Ron turned back to his Transfiguration text. He didn't know what he could do about his sister, but he planned to beat Hermione on that essay.

"Hey, Ron," said Neville who sat down next to him.

"Morning, Neville," Ron answered. He looked the boy in the eyes. "Hermione will try to get you to tell her what I'm studying," he said. "Your answer is?"

Neville looked down at the book Ron had discarded. "Charms?"

"Right," said Ron.

"Do you think you could give me some pointers on my Transfiguration essay later?" asked Neville.

Ron had heard that explaining something to someone else helped you learn it better. "Sure," he said.

"By the way," said Neville. "My Uncle's taking me to a Quodpot game over Christmas Hols, and I thought that since you took me to the World Cup, I'd invite you."

Ron thought about it. He'd never seen a Quodpot game before, or been to the colonies. "Sure," he said. "Sounds like fun."

"Cool," said Neville.

"I'll have to clear it with my parents first," said Ron, "but I think they'll say yes."

"Great," said Neville, who started to fill his plate. "Ooh, blueberry scones."

Ron looked up over his book. Somehow he had completely forgotten about breakfast. His stomach rumbled. His Transfiguration text soon joined his Charms text. You couldn't study on an empty stomach.

!

It seemed to go on forever, or perhaps only for an instant. It was as though all of space rushed past him, spinning him every which way. Massive flashes of light and heat, like a multitude of stars, continued to fly past him. Very soon, an eternity later, he was rushing over ground, in the sky. Harry only had time to notice that it was night out before the violent twisting came to an end, and Harry landed abruptly on the ground. As much as he wanted to curl up and pass out, he knew that that wasn't an option. He sprung up shakily, holding an arm in front of him and his shield up, ready to ward off any attack.

There were children everywhere in a massive hall filled with floating candles; many were younger than he was. He turned to see adults at a large table, an old man in the center obviously their leader. He was standing in front of a large, flaming, wooden cup.

"Where am I?" he demanded, pointing his hand at the table of adults.

"Harry," said the old man breathlessly.

"I asked what planet is this. How did you bring me here?"

"My boy, I did not bring you here."

Harry scowled, "Just tell me where the Stargate is and I won't hurt anyone. A great many lives may depend on my being elsewhere very soon."

"Stargate?" asked the man, confusion evident on his face. The rest of the hall remained silent at the spectacle in front of them.

"The Astria Porta," Harry clarified, and when this still gained no recognition, "the Chapa'ai. The bloody great stone ring."

"I'm afraid that I don't know what you're speaking of. My name is Albus Dumbledore, and I can tell you that you are in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"I'm in a magic school," said Harry.

"That's right."

They had speculated that there were likely other witches and wizards somewhere in the universe, but this all seemed sort of ridiculous. "I really don't have time for this," said Harry, opening a hyperspace window and beaming through it. He'd find the stargate even if he had to jump across the entire planet. But he never left the hall; the hyperspace window left him exactly where he had first appeared. He tried to apparate like Sirius had taught him, but he was again left standing where he was, and left feeling distinctly wobbly.

He noticed a series of ornate windows on one side of the hall and shot himself over to one. Flinging it open, he tried to shoot himself to the horizon, but while it seemed to work at first, he soon found himself flung backward, sliding down along a table. It was fortunately devoid of food.

Harry leapt to his feet atop the table and turned once more to the old man. "What technology is this? Why are you keeping me here?"

"As I told you," said the man, "I am not responsible your current situation. I wish I could tell you who was responsible, but whoever has done this has likely taken pains to remain undiscovered."

Harry glared at the man. "If you have nothing to do with this, and know nothing of the Stargate, then how do you know my name?"

"My boy, your name is known the world over."

Harry realized for the first time that the man was speaking with a British accent. He raised his hand device to the starry sky reflected on the ceiling to confirm what he already knew to be true. The stars showed that he was on Earth.

Ignoring the man as best he could, Harry pulled out his communicator and tried to get a signal to the SGC, but there was some kind of interference.

"Why can't I get a signal out?" he asked.

"I'm afraid that muggle technology does not work here," was the reply.

Losing his patience, Harry pointed his hand device to the ceiling and sent banners and candles reeling. Many of the children screamed, and many of the others took defensive postures. "My technology works Dumbledore," he said dangerously. "My signal is being blocked. Why?"

The man addressed the children instead. "I would like the prefects to escort all students to their dormitories," he said. There was no movement from the students, and this time there was power in the man's voice. "Now." The children all stood and began to leave the hall. The man once more returned his attention to Harry. "It could be any number of wards that prevent you from connecting to the outside world."

"I suppose a telephone is out then?"

"That's right."

"There are lives that depend on my contacting people in America."

"If you are trying to contact a non-magical person, then I am afraid I have no instantaneous methods of communication available for you."

"Do you have forms of instantaneous transportation?" asked Harry.

"Yes, of course."

"Then someone is going to take a letter to Cheyenne Mountain for me, before people go into battle expecting me to be there."

"I'm afraid I do not understand, what battle are you to be in?"

"That's not your concern. Do I have a courier?"

The man turned to one of the individuals sitting at the table. "Fillius, if you would?"

"Of course," the tiny man said.

The man waved his wand at the table in front of him and a plate and fork became parchment and a quill. Harry tried not to look surprised, and walked up to compose his message, struggling with the odd writing implement. Though he'd seen Sirius use one on occasion, he had never before used one himself.

He handed it to Fillius. "Go to Cheyenne Mountain, in America, and deliver this to the first soldier you find. Instruct him that it is an urgent message for General Hank Landry."

If the man found the instructions odd, he didn't show it. He took the folded parchment and walked out quickly. Harry turned his attention back to the old man.

"What do I have to do to get out of here?"

"I'm afraid that it will be quite impossible for you to leave the area until this tournament is over."

"I was brought here for a game?" asked Harry incredulously. Hundreds of lives risked for some tournament.

"It may well be that you were brought here for far more sinister motives. Now, the other champions are likely wondering what is happening, perhaps it would be best for us to have this discussion with them. They are involved as well."

"There are others? Very well," said Harry, wondering if they had been brought against their will as well, "but I expect answers." He was aware that the man included him as one of these 'champion's'.

"And you shall receive them." He indicated a door through which Harry should go through.

"After the lot of you, I think," said Harry, finally letting his shield down.

"As you wish," said the man. He looked back at the others at his table. Many of them went through the door, but the others left through another. Dumbledore turned and went into the room he had pointed to. Harry followed him.

"-to think that no one was coming." A tall brown haired boy was saying. "Professor," he addressed, "is everything all right?"

"It seems that a rather large complication has come up."

"Complication?" Harry demanded, "This is a tad more serious than a complication."

"Harry Potter?" asked the surprised boy, somehow recognizing him.

Harry glared at Dumbledore.

"I did say," said the man, "that you were known the world over. I'm afraid that your rather prominent scar gives you away."

"Just give me my answers so I'll know how to leave."

"Enough of this," said one tall hook-nosed man. "Your arrogance is astonishing, do you know who you are speaking to?"

"Do you?" asked Harry, challengingly.

"I find I quite agree," said a tall man with a goatee, "you have been nothing but insufferable since you got here."

"I'm supposed to be insufferable," Harry bit out, "I've been kidnapped."

"Zat is not our fault," said an unimaginably tall woman, "your presence here iz just as much of an imposition on us."

"Oh really?" asked Harry. "You're inconvenienced just as much as I am?"

"Professors, Harry, please," said Dumbledore. "This is a difficult situation, and we must all keep cool heads."

The younger man who had started it sneered, but said nothing else. The two with the foreign accents looked like they had many arguments they wanted to raise, but Dumbledore had a presence about him that brooked no debate on the matter.

"Answers," Harry said.

"Yes, of course. For those who were not present, this is indeed Harry Potter. His name came out of the Goblet of Fire, and minutes later the magic of the device delivered him here."

"But zis little lost boy, E is too young to compete."

Harry ignored the blond. "No wooden cup has the energy potential to transport me that distance. Even if it is technological in nature, it should not have been possible."

"The magic that created the Goblet is ancient, Harry, and it has only grown stronger as it has aged. The witches and wizards who created it were far stronger and more clever than anyone living today, I'm afraid. Empiricism not being in fashion at the time, their knowledge of the workings of the Goblet are lost to us."

Harry sighed, determined to discover the cup's secrets later. "Start from the beginning then."

It was another man who cleared his throat.

"Barty," said Dumbledore, "if you would."

"Mister Potter," said the man. "The Tri-wizard Tournament was created nearly a thousand years ago as a competition between the three premier schools of magic in Europe. Students enter their names into the goblet, and it chooses the most qualified applicant from each school. Because of the dangerous nature of the tasks, and because of the great effort involved in organizing the tournament, in order to ensure the seriousness of any applicant, a magical contract is entered into when one's name is issued by the Goblet. Very strong magics ensure that the champion remains near the host school for the duration of the Tournament, and that the Champion competes."

"This is lunacy; it's not a contract if I didn't enter into it myself."

"Unfortunately, Mister Potter, for our purposes that distinction does not exist, because the Goblet believes you entered your name. It is not law that binds you, it is deep and powerful magic. Until the Tournament ends as scheduled, you will be unable to leave."

"I don't think so," said Harry, "it seems to me that all I have to do is destroy this cup of yours."

"Don't be absurd, boy," said Severus.

"While I don't know what tools you have at your disposal," said Dumbledore, "the attempt would likely hurt or kill you. Perhaps the other champions as well."

Suddenly very tired, and still injured from his rough landing, Harry sat down in the chair by the fireplace. He ran a hand through his hair. "If that's true, then I still need to tell my friends exactly where I am."

"That's not possible."

"For crying out loud, how much power did you give your little wooden cup?"

"It is not the cup that would prevent this, it is the school's wards. This area is unplotable. Our location cannot be marked on a map, or expressed as longitude and latitude."

Harry was too tired to wrap his mind around such a concept. "Then you will bring my friends here."

"Unless they are magical as well, I am afraid that that would be quite impossible."

Harry huffed with annoyance. "You mean I'm stuck sending messages by courier?"

"As to that, Mister Potter," said 'Barty', "I do not know what you know of our world, but we cannot allow you to tell any muggles about us. The existence of magic is a secret known only to heads of state."

Harry decided not to tell them that the US government was currently using magic to conduct some very interesting experiments. "And I suppose you're going to stop me?" he asked.

Dumbledore rushed to defuse the tense situation. "I will not guess as to your capabilities Harry."

Meanwhile Crouch tried to speak over him, "We live in a society of laws," he began."

Again, Dumbledore's presence won out. "But seeing as you rely on us for any communication, your options are quite limited."

Harry was in danger of losing his cool. He changed the subject, vowing to find a way to send a message later. "Enough of this. I want to know who is responsible for all of this, and I want to know why they did it."

"Again, I do not know who would have done this."

A very gnarled and severe looking man spoke up. "It wouldn't have been someone who wanted to just find Potter. I'm sure you thought of doing this yourself Albus, just to find the boy. But for this to have been done in secret means that the culprit has no good intentions."

"Alas, I fear you are right Alastor."

"What does he mean, you would have thought of doing this?" asked Harry.

"I admit, the thought had crossed my mind. There was quite a manhunt for you when you disappeared five years ago. When the Tournament was reinstated, I considered using the Goblet to finally find you. However, I considered the summoning, and the challenges themselves to be too dangerous. Alastor is likely right. Whoever did this did not have your best interests at heart."

"And you do?"

"Your parents were students of mine, Harry. I attended their wedding and I was there when they named you to the world. Your safety has long been a concern of mine."

"You knew my parents?" asked Harry in surprise. Harry had not thought of them in a long time, but at their mention, he felt the longing he had long wished to be rid of.

"Indeed I did, as did most of the professors at this school. They were well liked by most who knew them."

"Yes, well, we can continue this conversation later. Or not. I'm going to try to walk away. With any luck I will be back where I'm supposed to be soon."

"You are free to try," said Dumbledore over Barty's objections, "however, I will accompany you, so that you do not become lost."

"Do what you will," said Harry, feigning disinterest. He stood up and walked out of the room. Dumbledore spoke to another man as he left.

"Ludo, do please give the champions their instructions. We can all continue discussion tomorrow." The man's long strides caught him up to Harry quickly. "The exit is just outside of the Great Hall, Harry."

Harry walked out of the Hall, and opened the great doors that led outside. He turned to Dumbledore. "Where do these grounds end?"

The man pointed into the distance, and Harry could make out the metal gate in the darkness. Without another word, he placed a hand on the man and shot them both to the gate. Dumbledore stood back when they rematerialized.

"How did you do that?"

Harry shrugged. "My method's my own. Tell me, what is the area I'm bound to?'

The man sighed, obviously unhappy with the situation. "Champions are bound to the castle grounds, and to the village below. You could follow the road in front of us to the village, but you could not step off on the other side of the road."

Harry nodded and shot himself across the road. It was as though an energy shield stood in his way though and Harry bounced back, staggered as he rematerialized. He fell to his knees, pain flaring in his head, almost as though he had rammed the barrier. He heard the gates open, and Dumbledore rushed to his side.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"I am tired," said Harry, "of sudden bloody stops."

"Quite understandable, my boy."

Harry stood to his feet, allowing the man to help him up. He approached the invisible barrier and placed his hand against it. His hand fell through though. He tried to step forward, but couldn't. There was no wall, as it had initially seemed; he was tethered to the castle, like a four-year-old on a leash.

"Bother," said Harry peevishly. He resolved to attempt to beam out later, when he had more energy.

"Shall I arrange for sleeping arrangements then?" asked Dumbledore.

"It would seem I'm stuck here for the moment."

"I do hope you can gain something from all of this," said Dumbledore. "You clearly command some very advanced magics, but Hogwarts is still, as Bartimus put it, one of the premiere schools in Europe."

"I'm needed elsewhere, rather badly in fact. How long is this all supposed to last."

"Roughly six and a half months."

"This all just gets better and better."

They walked on in silence for a while before Harry's curiosity got the better of him.

"You really knew my parents?"

"I did," said Dumbledore gently. "Lilly and James were outstanding students, and they became rather prominent members of society."

"I know that they were murdered, regardless of what my relatives tried to tell me. What happened?"

"They _were_ murdered, I'm sorry to say. They both fought against the Dark Lord Voldemort, trying to stop him from taking over our world. They were attacked in their home and killed." He waited for Harry to digest that information. "You should know Harry that Voldemort tried to kill you as well. However, his curse, which should have been unstoppable, was reflected back onto him. He has existed as little more than a wraith ever since. It is for this reason that you are so well known. They call you the boy-who-lived, for on that night we were all saved."

The man's words drew him off of thoughts of his parents. "This is going to be rather unpleasant, isn't it?" Still, his thoughts raced away from his celebrity. Dumbledore made this Voldemort fellow sound a lot like Anubis.

"I'm afraid that you've been a celebrity since Voldemort's fall. Your disappearance has only heightened the mystery around you."

"Some things never change," said Harry, now thinking about his celebrity out in the galaxy.

"I hope you feel that I have answered your questions as best as I can, Harry."

Harry grunted.

"I rather need to know; have you been living with your abductors?"

"My abductors died not long after I was taken. Since then, I've taken care of myself."

"What happened to them?"

"I did."

Dumbledore looked at him remorsefully. "I am sorry that you were forced to-"

"I slew monsters, Dumbledore. They had sold their souls long ago. The price was the blood of countless innocents. In killing them, I saved lives, including my own. Not once have I regretted it."

"I am sorry that they took your childhood then."

"There wasn't much left to take. If anything, they freed me. I'm my own master now, I am no longer at anyone's mercy."

"I am aware of how you were treated by your relatives," said Dumbledore softly.

Harry looked at him sharply. "I didn't think that the result of that investigation had become public knowledge."

"It did in the magical world. I'm afraid that it may be something else that you may have to deal with."

"It's of no concern."

Silence reigned for a few minutes, and they reached the castle doors. Both of them entered, Harry now following the man's lead.

"Harry, you do know that as you are only fourteen, you are still considered a minor, and will likely be considered a ward of the Ministry. You will likely be forced to attend school until you come of age."

Harry chuckled. "Perhaps your cup can hold me, but you have admitted yourself that the magic cannot be equaled today. I'll leave eventually; your government holds no real power over me."

"I dare say that they will feel differently."

"That's not my concern."

"I admit, I do wonder what it is you have been doing these past five years. You spoke of planets, Stargates, and battles, and you wished to contact an American General. Not to mention your strange technology."

"I was rambling earlier, take no notice of what I said," said Harry, perfectly aware that that wasn't an adequate reply to any of the man's concerns. To his credit, Dumbledore let the matter slide.

"Did Sirius ever find you?" asked Dumbledore.

Harry looked at him in surprise. "Did you know him?" A million and one thoughts rushed through Harry's head. Did this Gandalf impersonator have the answers to all of their unanswered questions? Or more importantly, did he have any responsibility for what had happened to Sirius?

"He too was a student of mine."

"Then do you know why he was tortured for years on end before he had his entire past taken from his mind?"

Dumbledore looked at him with genuine surprise. "I was unaware of the later," said the man. "As to the former, Sirius Black was imprisoned for eight years in Azkaban before he escaped."

"Please tell me," said Harry, "that Azkaban is a prison in some primitive country with no extradition treaty with England, because I happen to know that England has very specific laws concerning the ethical treatment of prisoners."

"I'm afraid that I cannot."

"Sirius can't remember what happened to him," said Harry stiffly, "but to this day he has nightmares of nothingness, knowing only terror and the surety that he will never again know happiness. Do you know how hard it is to get over a trauma you can't actually remember? Just what crime is my godfather supposed to have committed to deserve that kind of treatment? Because I wouldn't have wished it on my worst enemies."

"Let me start by saying that it is the Dementors guards of Azkaban, foul dark creatures, that have caused this effect. I myself am against their use, but many in our society consider them a necessary evil to prevent the escape of dark wizards. As to his crimes, Harry you must know that Sirius Black betrayed your parents to Voldemort, directly leading to their deaths. When another friend of theirs confronted him, he killed him, along with a dozen muggles."

"I don't believe it," said Harry with conviction, no doubt in his mind.

"I assure you-"

Harry waved his hand. "I'll grant that you believe it," he said. "But I know my godfather, regardless that he doesn't know himself. He's the man who vehemently taught me to stay away from the dark arts before I even knew what they were. He's the man who, when a curse started eating away at his memories, the only thing he was able to keep in his mind was that he had a godson named Harry Potter, and that he needed to find and protect him. My godfather is a good man, it's in his nature."

"Harry-"

"I want to see the trial transcripts," said Harry.

"I'm afraid that that's impossible," said Dumbledore.

"What's the point of a legal system," asked Harry, "if you don't do something as basic as documenting a trial?"

"Unfortunately in this case, the basic tenant of the legal system ignored was not documentation, it was the trial itself."

"Well then," said Harry, "I'm glad that I never had an opportunity to grow up in this society."

"Try to understand that it was a very dark time in our past. There was a lot of chaos after Voldemort's fall. I admit that it should not have happened, but it is not something that would be done today."

"Sure it isn't," said Harry. "How much further to this dormitory?"

"It is not much further," said Dumbledore. "One more thing," said Dumbledore, "I have to ask, are you certain that your godfather has lost his memories?"

"I saw the scans myself," said Harry. "He was half-way to being a blank slate when we met."

Harry made a concerted effort not to comment on any of the strange aspects of the castle. The moving picture, moving staircases, and talking suits of armor were odd, but Harry didn't want to appear flustered by the strange place. Eventually they reached a portrait of a large woman.

"This, Harry, is Gryffindor tower. It is one of the dormitories here, and it is also the one your parent's slept in."

"You want me to sleep with children," Harry deadpanned. He had kept the company of adults for five years. What did he know of children?

"I'm quite sure they've stopped biting by this age. Besides, you'll sleep with other's your own age."

"Whatever, a bed's a bed," he said. "Or at least, I assume it is."

"I assure you, our bedrooms are much the same as our muggle counterparts." He addressed the portrait. "Lux."

The painting swung open, revealing the large and empty common room behind. Harry noticed the red and gold motif. Dumbledore motioned to a pair of staircases in back of the room. "The boys sleep on the left."

They made their way up the stairs. Dumbledore stopped them in front of one of the doors and knocked briefly before entering.

"Ah good," he said, "you boys are still up. And Miss Granger." Harry saw the bushy haired girl sitting at the foot of one of the boy's beds.

"Oh, sir," she said anxiously, "I was just about to leave for bed."

"No hurry tonight, I dare say sleep may be elusive from us all."

"Yes sir, thank you."

"As you all know by now, this is Harry Potter. Though against his will, he is bound to compete in the Tournament, and so will be requiring lodging. I do hope you boys will be amenable to sharing."

"Of course we will, Professor," said the sandy-haired boy. "We've got plenty of room here." The other boys nodded in agreement. Harry noticed with dismay that all five students were taller than him. Some things never changed.

"Very well then," said Dumbledore. He waved his wand and another bed sprung out of the floor, the other four moving aside to accommodate it. Harry raised his eyebrows appreciatively; even Sirius would have had a hard time doing that.

"I believe that that is all for tonight," said Dumbledore. He addressed the other boys. "Do be sure to get him to breakfast in the morning." Harry rolled his eyes. As though he couldn't find his way. "Harry, I will see to getting you some supplies, but in the meantime Mister Thomas here is quite good at Transfiguration. I am sure that he will be able to provide you with whatever items you need. In the mean time, good night." He left the room, leaving Harry quite alone with the five teens, all of who were staring at him.

"So, um, hi," said Harry. The kids all introduced themselves to him. He met Seamus, Ron, Dean, Neville, and Hermione. Harry found it hard to hold onto his frustration amidst the excited teens, and through his own exhaustion. He slumped down on his bed.

"So, where've you been," asked the red head.

"I can't say."

"You mean someone put a spell on you?" asked Neville.

"I mean I won't say, out of respect for the secrets of others."

"Wow," said Dean.

"So it's classified," asked Hermione. Harry looked at her without saying anything. "You were talking about various things that made little sense, before realizing that we weren't in the know. You were more careful about what you said after that."

"No comment," he said. Hermione took that as confirmation.

"But you're only fourteen," she pointed out.

"Basically," said Harry with a shrug. "Anyway. I'm rather banged up, so I'm going to go to bed, so that when I find out who did this, I'll be rested enough to kick their ass." That elicited a few raised eyebrows. "Dean, I don't suppose you could provide me with a toothbrush."

"Why don't you just use a mouth cleaning charm?" asked Hermione

"Yeah, mate," said Dean, "I've never needed to transfigure a toothbrush before."

"There's magic for cleaning your mouth?" he asked.

"Of course," said Ron.

"If I may?" asked Hermione.

Harry sighed. "Yeah all right."

She motioned for him to open his mouth and incanted, "Sanitare Effleur"

It felt as a though a minty gust of wind was contained in his mouth for a few moments before he was left feeling rather refreshed.

"I'll have to learn that," he said. "Do you use words for all of your spells?" he asked curiously. Sirius was the only other wizard he knew, and unlike Harry, almost all of the magic he did used incantations.

"Of course," she said, "you can't learn spells without them."

"Not really," said Harry.

The girl's eyes lit up. One of the boys muttered, "Oh here we go."

"Could you show me then," she asked.

Harry shrugged and waved his hand in the air. A miniaturization of the Milky Way formed above them. He pointed. "There's us," he said.

"Wow," said Neville. "What's the incantation for that."

"I just said; there isn't one. It's energy bent to my will, nothing more." He sighed. "Anyway, I really am going to bed now, so good night."

Dean spoke up again. "Do you want some pajamas?"

Harry stared at him blankly for a moment before remembering that the people here regularly slept in clothes, something he had left behind during his time as a host. "No thanks, I'll be fine." Harry thought the boy looked disappointed that he wouldn't be able to transfigure anything.

Harry went to his bed and pulled the curtains closed. He pulled out his perimeter scanner and set it to alert him if anyone entered the room or approached the bed. That done he set the air temperature to one optimal for sleeping, and turned off his Tailor before settling down on top of the bed.

Closing his eyes, Harry decided that he'd handled this entire mess rather well. The school was still standing, after all.

!

General Landry looked down at the paper, no, parchment, on his desk dubiously. A strange man that had approached the mountain undetected had handed it to an SF at the entrance to the mountain facility before leaving in a similar fashion. That was still being investigated; while the man had not trespassed anywhere, his approach should have been monitored.

Hank opened the letter.

Landry,

I don't know what's going on, but I found myself on Earth rather suddenly in something of a special school. I'm currently stuck here, though I'll try to get away as soon as possible. The important thing is, Atlantis has no way of knowing I'm not there. When the Wraith attack, my ship will fight back on auto-pilot as it flies itself to safety, in this case: Atlantis. They're on their own right now. Please let them know I wish them the best.

-Harry

"Walter," called out Hank. "When's Atlantis scheduled to dial in?"

Walter, who never failed to be there when Hank needed him, stepped into the office. He checked his watch. "It should only be another couple of minutes, sir."

The connection was only to be a quick check-in before the battle; a battle that they were now at a disadvantage in. Hank handed him the letter. "Have this relayed to them first thing," he said. "Then push back SG-4's mission, I want SG-6 sent to Tollana as soon as the connection to Atlantis is terminated." There was only one kind of 'special' school that Hank could think of, when referenced by Harry Potter. It was time to invite Sirius Black home.

A/N: To all the people screaming at me (yes, I can hear you), I do recall plotting the imminent murder of Bartimus Crouch Senior. I did not forget about it. To all those who are plotting _my_ death should I not have an adequate explanation for how the Goblet was able to pull Harry all the way from the Pegasus galaxy (I can see you too, and some of those plots are just sick, sick, I tell you) let me reassure you that I wouldn't leave such a big plot hole in my story. I care too much about you guys to do that, even the one who's been trying to figure out how to pull my heart through my throat (you know who you are). However, to atone for your unjustified outrage, you must give me reviews. Lots of reviews, or I'll do something horrible, like have Harry bitten by Edward.


	3. 02 Awakening

Disclaimer: If I owned this, I would have enough money to retire and travel the world in a private jet. I don't, but I can dream.

Harry opened his eyes slowly. Considering the red drapes around his bed, Harry could no longer cling to the notion that the night before had been a dream. The cries of mourning were another tip off.

"What happened, Ron?" asked a voice from the night before. Harry couldn't put a name or face to it.

"It's Scabbers," the red headed boy said from beyond Harry's curtain. "He's dead."

Harry activated his Tailor with a thought and jumped out into the room.

"Who's dead?" he asked, taking a defensive position and wearing combat clothing.

"Not who," said one of the boys quickly. Seamus? "Scabbers is Ron's rat."

"Oh," said Harry, deflating. "I'm sorry then," he said, addressing Ron.

"Did you squish him in your sleep?" asked Dean.

"No," said Ron, "he was sleeping on my headboard all night, he was there when we got back from the feast."

"He could have been dead the whole time," said Seamus.

"I guess so," said Ron morosely.

Feeling out of place, Harry excused himself from the room and went into the bathroom. He toyed with the idea of just using a few cleaning charms on himself, but decided he wanted a real shower.

Harry approached the nearest shower stall with trepidation as his Tailor shut off. He didn't know if there was any major difference between wizarding showers and the more traditional ones he was used to. Closer examination showed a fairly normal design. A bench across from the stall held towels, soap, and washcloths. After his introduction to the castle the night before, he hadn't expected anything so straightforward.

Ten minutes later, feeling a little more balanced, Harry walked back out into the dorm room, to find he was the only one there. Settling on Tollan formal for an outfit, Harry walked down the stairs. The boy, Neville, perked up when Harry got to the common room.

"Hey," he said, "we thought someone should wait up for you, and I volunteered."

"Thanks," said Harry, deciding not to mention that he could have made the trip on his own.

"Come on," said Neville, leading the way over to the entryway. The boy pushed open the portrait that covered the hole in the wall and walked out into the corridor. Harry followed.

"So did you sleep okay last night?" asked Neville.

"Yeah, sure," Harry answered, having slept on far worse during his travels. "So," he said, looking for conversation, "have you been here long?"

"Since I was eleven," answered Neville, "like everyone else here."

"Did you know about magic before then?"

"Oh, yeah," said Neville, "I grew up in the wizarding world. My whole family's magical, you see. How about you? I heard you were raised by muggles, did you know about magic?"

"Not until I was nine," said Harry. "They kept it a secret from me, and I only discovered it after I was abducted."

"Oh," said Neville, "that's too bad." Harry shrugged. "You know you might-"

"So it's true," a loud arrogant voice interrupted, "the old man put you in Gryffindor without so much as a 'by your leave."

"Who are you?" Harry asked the tall aristocratic blond boy, who was flanked by two other boys.

"Malfoy," the boy said proudly, "Draco Malfoy, son of Lucius Malfoy."

"Just him, or was there a woman involved?" asked Harry, not feeling terribly patient.

"My mother," the boy said, again sounding very important, "is Narcissa Malfoy, formerly of the Ancient and Noble house of Black. That brings me to why I'm here, actually. Now that you're where you belong, you'll need to be careful of who you associate with. Gryffindor is notorious for housing blood traitors, and the boy next to you is practically a squib. I recommend that you demand that the school sort you at dinner-"

Harry held up a hand and turned to Neville. "Blood traitors are non-racists, right?"

Neville nodded. "Basically," he said, looking embarrassed.

"Come on then," said Harry, walking past the blond boy and his two silent friends. Neville fell back into step with him a moment later.

"Don't just walk away from me," the blond boy called out.

"Keep walking," Harry reassured Neville. "Never let them think they have any importance."

"He kind of does though," said Neville. "His father's on the school's board of governors."

"Well for god's sake," said Harry, "don't give him reason to think that matters."

"Er, right," said Neville.

"So what's a squib?" asked Harry.

"Someone who's born to magical parents who doesn't have enough magic to do any spells. But I'm not a squib."

"Wouldn't it be pointless for you to be here if you were?" asked Harry.

"Right," said Neville.

"So what's this about houses?" asked Harry.

Neville proceeded to explain about the four houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Harry thought the boy had tried to give a fair assessment of each, but there had been some subtle bias in favor of Gryffindor and against Slytherin. Harry asked how students were sorted, and Neville explained the Sorting Hat.

"Isn't that an invasion of privacy?" asked Harry.

"Well the sorting hat isn't really alive," said Neville. "That's one of the principles of magic. You can't create life, only really good imitations of it. And the hat's designed so it doesn't give away any of your secrets."

"Hm," said Harry, unconvinced. Why couldn't magic create life? That was a question Sirius had never been able to answer to his satisfaction.

For all of the stares and whispers that had followed Harry and Neville through the halls, they multiplied ten-fold when they entered the huge dining room.

"...and this is the Great Hall," Neville was saying. "Though you've already seen it."

Harry was used to it of course. It seemed most people in the galaxy who lived near a Stargate had at least heard of him, and what he had done. It would die down once they got used to him, though Harry didn't want to stay long enough for that to happen.

As it had been the night before, the hall was divided by house tables. Neville led Harry to the Gryffindor table where their age mates were sitting. However, Harry didn't join them. He decided to act on the advice he had given to Neville.

"Thanks for being my guide, Neville," Harry said. "I'll see you later though." With that, he kept on walking until he had reached the table where all of the teachers and visitors were eating. Knowing that all eyes were upon him, and not showing that he had noticed, Harry took a seat between a stern looking woman and the largest man that Harry had ever seen. He gave them both a good morning as he began putting food on his plate. As his mouth began to water, Harry realized that he had missed good English cooking.

The woman next to him was the first to speak up. "Mr. Potter," she said. "Surely you have realized that students are expected to eat at the house tables."

"That was clear," said Harry, "yes. However I am not a student. What was also clear was that this was the table for non-student visitors to this school, as well as professors. I do believe that I fit into that category."

"On the contrary," said the professor, "this is the table for adults in this school."

"Excellent," said Harry, "as I am recognized as an adult by more governments than you can count on one hand, one of which is Britain. I haven't sat at the kid's table for a good long time. You see, I find that while people will treat me as a child if I let them, the opposite is generally true as well. You don't have to look at me as a fourteen year old, you can see me as a scientist, or a soldier, or an archeologist. I've even dabbled in diplomacy now and then. Now, I do believe that you both have me at a disadvantage."

The giant of a man next to him spoke first. "I'm Rubeus Hagrid," he said, "the Care of Magical Creatures Professor."

"I am Professor McGonagall," said the Woman, "Deputy Head Mistress, and Head of Gryffindor House. I also teach Transfiguration."

"Oh," said Harry with genuine interest, "I've always had something of a block with transfiguration. It's one area of magic that's always made the least amount of sense to me. Perhaps I could audit some of your classes."

"I was under the impression that you did not wish to be a student here," said the Professor.

"I have no desire to be enrolled here," said Harry. "But as it seems that I am stuck here for the time being, and though I have not given up on that problem, I may as well make the most of it. Your headmaster suggested as much the night before."

"Perhaps we could discuss your difficulties with Transfiguration later in my office-"

"Excellent," said Harry, as though he hadn't known that she was about to tell him to move to the Gryffindor table with the other youth. Hearing someone pulling out the chair next to him, Harry turned to see Dumbledore.

"Good morning, headmaster," Harry greeted.

"Mr. Potter," said the headmaster, "what a surprise."

"I know," said Harry, and then, as though he did not understand the nature of the surprise, "I thought I'd sleep in until noon after last night, especially considering the time differences. However, I was awoken by the commotion in the dormitory this morning, and found that I was quite rested and healed enough."

"Ah," said Dumbledore, "our own Madame Pomfrey often sings the praises of bed rest."

"Well," said Harry, now seeing the unpleasant man from the night before, Severus, stalking towards him, a sour expression on his face, "I really must be going, see if I can't fly out. Lovely breakfast." A wave of his hand cleaned the plate, and he was off. An argument over seat stealing would need to be avoided if he wanted to cement his position at the table. "I do hope there will be enough seats for lunch," he said. Passing by Severus, he said, "All yours."

!

"That's eleven hive ships in orbit directly above us," Grodin announced.

"Where's the twelfth?" asked Elizabeth, feeling uneasy about an unaccounted for enemy. Once again, she wished that she hadn't ordered the still damaged Orion to sit the fight out. When word had reached them that Harry had suddenly disappeared to Earth, it had been too late to recall it.

"Long range sensors say that it is still a couple minutes out with the five Wraith cruisers," he answered.

"Alright," said Elizabeth. "Hail them."

"Ma'am?" asked Grodin, but she merely nodded in reassurance. "Hailing," he said. After a moment, he added, "they aren't responding."

"Alright," said Elizabeth. "In that case, just broadcast."

"We're ready."

Elizabeth hoped that she didn't sound as nervous as she felt, the Wraith would seize her fear and use it against her.

"Wraith hive ships," she said. "You are clearly here to either destroy or take Atlantis today. But you will fail," she said. "We have weapons and ships more powerful than your own. Our shield has withstood both time and the combined Wraith might. Leave now, and we will not destroy you."

She stopped speaking, and there was silence in the gate room. Elizabeth finally broke it. "Any response?"

Grodin shook his head. "Wait," he said. "They're launching Darts to engage the Daedalus and the Libertas."

Elizabeth frowned. Both ships had powerful defenses, but they had no way of knowing how much damage Harry's ship would do by the time it reached safety. As for the Daedalus, its powerful shields could only do so much when coupled with it's relatively primitive weapons.

"What's happening?"

"The Libertas is moving towards Atlantis, but it's doing heavy damage to the Dart fleet. Daedalus is holding it's ground, but it's getting swarmed. Our F-302s are helping, but the Daedalus has never faced this many darts at once."

"John," Elizabeth called into her radio, "use the drones to engage the Darts."

"I was wondering when you'd ask," said John.

"Drones are away," said Grodin, "the Libertas is landing on the North pier." There was an alert from his console. "The remaining ships have arrived."

"Oh, this is not good," said Doctor Zelenka.

"What is it?" asked Elizabeth.

"It's their position," said Doctor Zelenka. "They've formed a ring. Its center is directly above us, but they are very spread out. And then there's the twelfth ship, in the center. It's nearly crippled, no life signs. I believe it is a-"

"Hive ships are firing on Atlantis."

It was only moments later that they began to feel the impact, but the shield held strong.

"The twelfth ship is a kamikaze," said Radek urgently. "It's sub-light engines are powering up, and with them it could greatly surpass it's terminal velocity."

"The shield could hold against that," said Grodin.

"Yes, they could," said Radek, "but the shield is only part of the problem. With only one ZPM, we are already putting a strain on our power systems. We will not have enough energy to keep the city stable."

"He's right," said Grodin. "The twelfth ship is moving towards us. Trajectory has it hitting the East pier."

"What will that do?" asked Elizabeth.

"Imagine an earthquake more massive than anything ever felt on Earth," said Radek. "Half of the building would likely collapse, or tumble. We would surely all perish."

"John," Elizabeth called into her radio.

"I'm already on it," said John.

"There's not enough time," said Radek. "The drones won't be able to destroy the ship fast enough."

"Could we submerge the city?" asked Grodin.

"Not on such short notice," said Radek.

"Rodney," Elizabeth called once more into her radio. There was one last hope.

!

Leaving the Castle through the doorway next to the Great Hall, Harry nearly ran down the steps and transformed, leaping into the air as he did. Instead of falling, he kept rising, his arms having become wings. A profound sense of calm washed over him as the mind of the peregrine falcon helped him rise higher into the air. For a time, Harry was content to simply soar, the large stone castle helping to form thermals for him to climb up on. All of his worries fell away and he centered himself and began to plan. He wasn't sure how long he stayed up there, but eventually he decided to take action.

Already fairly high up, Harry concentrated on continuing to go higher. When he judged himself high enough, Harry flew to the boundary that Dumbledore had pointed out to him the night before. Perhaps he could pass through in his Animagus form. Perhaps the tether could not hold on to you if you went up instead of out. Harry was wrong on both counts. Harry was jerked back as he attempted to cross the road outside of the Hogwarts grounds. Fortunately, he was high enough up that he had ample time to right himself before he could crash into the ground.

Dejected, Harry flew down and transformed into himself. His sense of calm gone, Harry stalked back towards the castle. It was time to see a man about a cup.

Harry had to ask for directions twice, but he eventually found himself staring at a gargoyle that was effectively blocking a vertical shaft that Harry understood led to the Headmaster's office. The last boy that Harry had spoken to had told him that Harry would have to guess the password, which was supposedly some manner of confection. Not knowing the names of many sweets, Harry didn't consider this much of an option.

Gazing up, Harry shot himself up to stand on the gargoyle's head, his narrow matter stream easily moving past the obstruction. Looking up again, Harry beamed himself to the small platform atop the shaft and knocked.

"Come in, Harry," called the old man from within.

Harry looked around, wondering if there was a surveillance camera of some sort watching him before he remembered that he had shown the headmaster the night before the ability that he alone had that had allowed him to bypass the gargoyle.

"I thought I might be seeing you soon," said Dumbledore.

"I want to see the cup," said Harry, without preamble.

"Yes, I thought you would, however I'm afraid that that would be impossible. Aside from very real concerns for your well being should you try to tamper with it, Bartimus Crouch removed the Goblet to the Ministry of Magic last night while we were on our way to the Gryffindor common room."

Harry tamped down on his anger. "Is it still effective at that range? How could it tether me here if it's not here as well?"

"The principle is known as Thaddeus's Fourth Law of Transferred Sympathy. The actual spells were cast by the French Ministry after the fourth time a champion was nearly killed by the Goblet after trying to tamper with it."

"So they want to protect me?"

"Ostensibly, yes."

"And it has nothing to do with wanting to keep me here?"

"That is undoubtedly their primary motive, though I've no doubt that they would call the two one and the same."

Harry pounded a fist on the desk, putting a fair sized dent in the wood. "I have been incredibly patient, Dumbledore. And while I have been sleeping in a soft bed, eating rich foods, and playing politics, my friends are living or dying fighting a terrifying and terrible enemy that is being kept off of your doorstep. Your ministry may not realize who they are dealing with, but I am not above showing them."

"And who are they dealing with, Harry? You speak highly of your worth, but you shroud yourself in mystery."

"I am many things, but right now I'm a soldier trapped behind enemy lines, and the highest order for a person in my position is to escape or force my captors to use as many resources as possible to contain me."

"We are not your enemies, Harry. There may be someone here who wishes you ill, but they are against us as well."

"You haven't shown that to be true to my satisfaction," said Harry, "and no matter how you slice it, you are the warden of this prison. I don't trust you, neither your word nor your intention. I'll have every reason to be weary of you until I am freed."

"Harry," began Dumbledore, but he was interrupted by a loud rumbling from the stairwell. "That will be the Minister of Magic. I would advise you to hold onto your temper."

"And I would advise you to get him to return the cup to me."

The door opened without preamble. In walked a man with a lime-green bowler hat and a large smile on his face, followed by a man that Harry could tell was a fighter.

"Harry," said Dumbledore, "this is Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic."

"Harry, my boy," said the green man. "What a pleasure it is, what a happy accident that I can welcome you back to your rightful place in the wizarding world."

"Rightful place?" asked Harry, "I was abducted from my rightful place, against my will. There was no accident; my name was deliberately entered into this game of yours. The cup that is keeping me here has been taken by you in an effort to keep me here."

"Harry, Harry," said the minister, "terrible things have happened in the past to champions who have tried to tamper with the Goblet of Fire. Why there was that one young man who was rendered unconscious until he was summoned to the side of an angry Chimera. I would never be forgiven if I allowed anything to happen to you, and Merlin forbid I lost you again."

"Then you admit you intend to keep me here against my will."

"My boy," the green man blustered. "You're still a child. You need to be protected from the world out there."

"I'm not the one that needs to be protected," said Harry dangerously.

"What-"

"Why was my godfather denied a trial? Why was he not able to present evidence in his defense?"

A look of understanding blossomed on the minister's face. "My boy, my poor boy, you've been confused, probably Confunded by the man. It's only natural that you would be hostile towards us. It's a good thing you're here, Harry, never fear that we won't get you sorted." He turned to Dumbledore. "I sleep better now, having given the Kiss on sight order."

"Kiss?" asked Harry, "What Kiss?"

Dumbledore answered him. "The Dementors are capable of irreversibly removing a person's soul from their body."

Harry turned back to Fudge enraged. "You've sentenced a man to death when he has received no trial?"

"Now see here, boy, my voters needed-"

"Before I see you again," Harry interrupted, "you will have rescinded your order, and you will have the cup in hand, or I will be forced to treat you as the attempted murderer and kidnapper that you are."

A wave of Harry's hand caused the nearest window to shatter inward, sending a spray of glass into the office. In the next instant, Fudge and the fighting man were replaced by yellow beams that shot out to the horizon.

Harry took a deep breath and nodded to himself. It had been rash, but perhaps better than completely losing his temper.

"Mr. Potter," said Dumbledore, "that was hardly an appropriate response when dealing with-"

"Don't talk to me about appropriate responses," said Harry, thinking about the danger Sirius had been in until he had managed to leave the planet. "When were you going to tell me my godfather was in such danger?"

"Soon," said Dumbledore. "Last night had seemed troubling enough."

"At least he's safe," said Harry. "At least, as safe as I was." They lapsed into a moment's silence. "Do you have any idea how the cup was able to pull me all the way here?" asked Harry.

Dumbledore sighed and took a seat, motioning for Harry to take one himself. Once they were both seated, Dumbledore spoke. "As near as I can tell, the Goblet of Fire acts as what is known as an Inverse Portkey. These are very rare. Indeed, only a few remain today."

"Let me guess, something else lost to time because no one bothered to write it down," said Harry.

"On the contrary," said Dumbledore, "the process was well documented. However, it became impossible to perform when one of the needed elements, Devalpa hair, became impossible to obtain. No substitute has been found.

"Now, an Inverse Portkey draws a person to it, using many of the same principles of normal Portkey magic, which can't send anyone much past Venus. There are only a handful of places on Earth that have powerful enough wards to inhibit, but not specifically prohibit Portkey use. If you were in such a place, then I can think of no proven way to have drawn you from there. Otherwise, there is no mystery, unless of course you were on another planet."

Harry ignored the last comment. "No proven way?"

"As with any magical process, there are various theories that would allow you to augment the power. However, none have been successfully enacted."

"Except in this case," mused Harry.

"I assume your interest is more than academic," suggested Albus. "You're looking for clues as to whoever did this."

"I'm in more danger for as long as I don't know who," said Harry.

"Well I do have one clue to share," said Dumbledore. He handed over a small piece of burnt paper. Harry examined it.

"This looks like how I used to write my name," said Harry, "back when I still went to school in England."

"I had surmised as much," said Albus, "you will notice the two small spots of blood upon the paper. One each from your Aunt and Cousin."

Harry sat upright feeling far more alarm than he would have expected.

"They are quite alright," Dumbledore said reassuringly, "indeed they had no recollection that anything was amiss."

"And what about where he got the name from in the first place," said Harry, "I certainly had no school work or anything else with my name, written in my hand, at my relatives house. No one kept any of my work."

"That you know of," said Dumbledore. "Speaking as a professor, I still have copies of work from some of my former students, I know that Professor McGonagall does as well." Seeing Harry's look of alarm he added, "I already have someone checking into the whereabouts of all of your former teachers."

"You can skip my first two," said Harry, "I was still writing my 'r's backwards then." Dumbledore nodded. "My handwriting, their blood..." said Harry.

"All to cement your place in a competition that you did not enter. That you wrote the name was most important, though blood from your closest relatives helped in no small part."

"Of course, I can't investigate any of this," said Harry.

"No," said Dumbledore in agreement. "However, it is being investigated. A close and trusted friend of mine, a former Auror is looking for answers as we speak."

Harry thought back to the night before. "Alastor?" Harry asked. The man had seemed to fit the bill.

Dumbledore nodded. "He is the best, even in retirement."

"I hope he is," said Harry. "A lot rests on what answers he can find me. Now if you'll excuse me," he said getting up, "I have a tournament to get ready for." Harry reached the door. "Good day, Headmaster."

"You want to sit at the staff table, Mr. Potter?" asked Dumbledore as Harry was opening the door. "What do you teach?"

Harry paused, but didn't turn around. "Physics," he finally said, "to anyone who wants to learn, twice a week. I assure you, I'm more than qualified."

Harry walked down the stairs this time. In part because he wanted to slow down and get his temper back into check, but also because the stairs themselves blocked his line of sight. It had been a long time since Harry had been so mad; he had come very close to hurting the Minister, and he wasn't sure if he could blame the hormones of puberty. Granted, the man would have had it coming, but since defeating the goa'uld, Harry had made it his practice to mediate his disagreements with words; the Wraith not withstanding. Reaching the corridor below, Harry was at a loss as to what he should do. No cup to tamper with, no ideas for escape, no immediate avenues for communication with his allies, what was there for a boy to do?

Harry's attention was stolen by the rustling sound of something climbing the hallway wall ahead of him. The origami spider, once it had gotten his attention, unfolded and stuck itself to the wall. Harry studied what he saw to be a note addressed to himself.

Mr. Potter,

I am holding a third year Transfiguration class in 29 minutes. If you are interested, you will find the class on the second floor east hallway, third room on the right from the south.

-Professor McGonagall

The number '29' was written in red ink, and as Harry looked at the letter it turned into a '28'. Harry sighed. Ask, and ye shall receive, though a school lesson wasn't quite what he had been hoping for. With a touch more determination, Harry set off, following the directions on the note.

!

"I'm almost finished," shouted Rodney.

"Almost isn't good enough," said Elizabeth.

"You can't rush science," said a very exasperated Rodney.

"If anyone can do this, it's you, Rodney. I've seen you do the incredible on a regular-"

"I'm done." In that instant, the active Stargate began to glow an ethereal blue.

"I'm reading massive power output from the Stargate," said Grodin.

"So reroute it," Rodney shouted over the radio from Doranda at the Arcturus site.

Both Grodin and Radek worked quickly at their different consoles.

"That's it," said Radek. "All systems are at full power."

Elizabeth touched her earpiece. "John, save the drones for the real fight. Let them do their worst."

It was only moments later that the hive ship impacted. It was unlike anything Elizabeth had ever lived through before. The nuclear warhead they had once detonated over the city paled into comparison to this. But the city held firm as the sea frothed and a near deafening shockwave reverberated around the city. The explosion that played across the shield was terrifying and beautiful to behold. But the floor under her feet did not move an inch.

"Radek," said Elizabeth, "our drones are more powerful at close range, correct?" It was why the drones required a ZPM to work; they drew on most of their power from the City itself, and not from an internal source. Thus they were more effective, the closer they were to their power source.

"Absolutely," he said.

"And would the connection to Doranda hold if we left the planets surface?"

"With the amount of energy running through the gate, it would take a hyperspace jump to break the connection. Not that I would recommend jumping into hyperspace with the gate active."

"Well then," said Elizabeth, indulging a moment to feel vindictive, "let's show them what this city is made of." Touching her ear piece, she said, "John, we're going on the offensive. Atlantis is leaving this planet, but we're not going without saying good-bye. Take us into orbit. Major Lorne, I want all Puddle Jumpers in the air, engaging the darts.

She received two quick 'yes ma'am's from the two soldiers before the city began to rumble.

"We're taking off," said Radek.

Indeed, Elizabeth could see the horizon moving through the tower's stain glass windows. There was a slight feeling of upwards thrust, but though she knew that they were moving very quickly, Elizabeth could hardly tell.

"The Wraith have fallen back on the strategy they used last time," said Radek, "concentrating their fire power on one portion of the shield, hoping to punch through."

"How's it holding up?" asked Elizabeth.

"No damage," said Radek.

They were in orbit now, the sun was in full view just past the Wraith, but the shield protected them from its harmful rays. The blue bolts of energy from the Wraith weapons took on an orange tinge in its glare.

"We are in optimal range now," said Radek.

"John," said Elizabeth over the radio, "take them out."

"I thought you'd never ask," said John, and then the light show truly began.

"Remember what we talked about," said Radek into his earpiece. "Our shield can take their weapons fire, just focus on their engines."

Eleven separate streams of drones left through the six launching tubes from around the city. A number of Wraith darts tried to intercept them, either by shooting them down or flying into them, but Colonel Sheppard's control was superb, and every drone reached its target ship.

Elizabeth remembered a time, a large portion of her life, that she had fought long and hard at negotiation tables to end wars and bloodshed. There wasn't a human conflict that couldn't be solved by words, that was what she believed. But this was no human conflict, this was a fight for survival against a terrible monstrous enemy. She felt no remorse for a single one of the exploding wraith hive ships. Later she would hold a service for the people that had undoubtedly been cocooned on the ships, waiting to be fed upon, and she would find time to weep for them in private. But now, she was victorious.

"Target all cruisers," said Elizabeth. "What's the status of the Daedalus?"

"Ninety percent of the darts have been destroyed, ma'am," said Grodin. "The ship's rail guns have been picking them off with the help of the puddle jumpers."

"Good," said Elizabeth, "then they can lend us a hand. John," she said into her radio, "disable the ships only, and the weapons facing the Daedalus." She turned to face Grodin, "Patch me into the Daedalus."

"You're ready," Grodin confirmed.

"Colonel Ronson," she said, "we'd like to conserve our supply of drones, your ship's missiles should have a clear run to the cruisers."

"Doctor Weir," said the Colonel, "it would be my pleasure."

The Daedalus was equipped with sixteen tactical warheads, and another eight naquedah enhanced warheads. Generally, the Wraith were very effective at neutralizing missiles before they could reach their target, but the cruisers were dead in the water, and the darts that still swarmed the Daedalus wouldn't have a chance to catch up to the missiles. Elizabeth watched as five single tactical warheads reached the five separate ships.

"There's too much radiation," said Grodin, "sensors can't tell what's happening out there."

"Look out the window," said Elizabeth.

They were all gone. All that remained to be done was taking care of the remaining darts.

"Rodney," Elizabeth called into her radio. "You can dial down the Arcturus now. Good work over there. I want you to pack up over there and come through to oversee our jump into hyperspace. It's time to find a new home."

!

Harry reached the Transfiguration classroom just as the red digits on the parchment had reached '02', and found himself a seat up front. Not having any school supplies with him, Harry tried something he had been working on in his spare time. Pulling the sleeve on his right arm up and over his hand, Harry rubbed it on the surface of his desk. With a mental command, it left a square of white dust, thousands of little nanites. With a flickering start, a holographic screen appeared hovering in front of him, as Greek letters formed in front of him as a keyboard.

Harry gave a satisfied nod and, forgoing the keyboard, mentally composed a heading for the document. He would use the keyboard later when he needed to keep his attention on what he was learning. He knew that what he had done had attracted a lot of looks, but he didn't acknowledge them, as though he had done nothing out of the ordinary.

As the digits on the parchment reached '00', the door to the classroom opened once more, and Professor McGonagall entered. Her eyes swept over the room as she walked in, and though they lingered on Harry momentarily, she was nearly as good as Harry at pretending again that nothing was out of the ordinary.

"Good morning," greeted the Professor. "You have all noticed by now that Mister Potter has joined us for our lesson for the day. While he is in here, he is one of your fellow students, not a source of gossip or amusement. Mister Potter, depending on what level of participation you choose, you may need to acquire parchment and quills in order to turn in assignments."

Harry nodded his understanding and the Professor moved on. "As promised, we will be performing organic to elemental Transfiguration today. Specifically, we will be turning these wooden dowels," she pulled out a box of small rods, "made of oak, into iron. Ms. Malacaw, the first word in the incantation being 'Substanta', what class of Transfiguration would this be?"

"A change of essence," said the girl in the second row.

"Indeed," said the Professor, "five points to Ravenclaw. This means that your dowels will not only look and feel like iron, they will behave as iron. Who can list the primary characteristics of metals?"

She pointed to a boy a couple of seats away from Harry.

"They are lustrous, malleable, and conductive of both heat and electricity," said the boy.

"Correct," said Professor McGonagall, "five points to Hufflepuff. The biggest test of your Transfigurational success today will be how conductive it is to electricity." She removed a cloth from atop an instrument on her desk. "We will be using this to measure your success," she said. Then she pulled out a dowel and flourished her wand. "Substanta Ferrexnem," she incanted. The flash consumed the rod, and left it appearing to be metal. She pushed the rod into the instrument and held it up. A plate held both her Transfigured rod and another, apparently iron, rod sticking up, and separated at mid length by a ruler with it's center marked in red. Setting it back down, she placed her wand just off center of the ruler, closer to the Transfigured rod. Holding her wand still, she clearly said, "Rignocio." A small arc of static electricity jumped from her wand to the Transfigured rod.

"This rod," she pointed to the other rod, "is made of pure iron. The plate is magically grounded, to facilitate the flow of electricity. The closer to center you can cast the spell, and have the arc pass through the Transfigured rod, the better your transfiguration. Are there any questions? Yes?"

"What spell did you use to make the arc?" asked one boy.

"Rignocio is technically a lightning spell," said Professor McGonagall, "but it is so weak, it is commonly referred to as the static charm."

Harry typed on his desk as the class went on, taking notes. At times, his keyboard would turn into a sketchpad, so Harry could draw in illustrations. After her demonstration, the Professor dove into the theory behind the Transfiguration, something that Harry found both enlightening and confounding. Her descriptions of Transfiguration magic made sense in a way that Sirius's never had, but complete understanding was blocked, as Harry was missing background information on the subject. The lecture went on for a short while longer until Professor McGonagall passed out the rods and instructed her students to begin attempting the Transfiguration.

Hoping that he would have better luck with better instruction, Harry flourished his hand as the professor had instructed, a jab followed by a twist and another jab as he said the incantation. Nothing happened.

Harry wasn't the only one, of course; looking around, Harry saw that only about half of the class had managed to make any change to their dowel. Harry repeated his effort again and again, documenting each try, and eventually he saw a small change in the dowel. It was shinier and heavier than when he had begun. It was progress, but not quite the progress he had hoped for. It was then that Professor McGonagall, who had been making her way around the class, approached him.

"When you said that you had a block when it came to Transfiguration, Mr. Potter, I had wondered if that was relative to your seemingly advanced handle on magic."

"No," said Harry, "I'm pants at it. But your lecture made a lot more sense to me than my previous instruction."

Professor McGonagall nodded. "Transfiguration is a difficult subject to teach, regardless of your skill with it. However, how is it that you expect to be proficient in Transfiguration without the aid of a wand?"

"There is a mineral in my blood that allows me to focus my magic," said Harry. "I've never needed a wand."

"And yet," said Professor McGonagall, "as fascinating as that is, here we are. Transfiguration is a very precise branch of magic, and it requires a great deal of focus, both in the mental and physical sense. Perhaps this mineral is not up to the task. You will have an opportunity soon to acquire a wand, I suggest you take it."

"Thank you, Professor. What opportunity is this?"

"The Weighing of the Wands," she said. "In three days time, there will be a simple ceremony wherein the leading wand maker in Britain will evaluate the wands of all Champions, to ensure that each Champion is adequately equipped. He will come prepared to outfit the champions with wands should he find one to be sub-standard or, in your case, absent."

"I see," said Harry, intrigued at the opportunity to acquire his own wand. Maybe he could acquire a second one to study, Sirius had never allowed him to examine his scientifically, for fear of it being damaged.

"How long have you been studying Transfiguration, Mister Potter?" asked Professor McGonagall.

"A little over three years now," said Harry.

"Then perhaps you should continue auditing my third year classes. Regardless of your age, I don't believe that fourth year would be a good match for you."

"Alright," said Harry, who didn't want to be treated according to his age anyway.

"I must ask, Mister Potter," she said, "what manner of magic is this?" She gestured to his holographic screen.

Harry smiled, thinking of Rodney's favorite quote when working with Harry. 'Any sufficiently advanced technology...'

"It's not magic, Professor, though magic does help facilitate my control over it. No, this is the work of technology."

"In all of my excursions into the muggle world," said Professor McGonagall, "I have never seen the like."

"And you probably never will," said Harry. "This is of my own creation."

"I see," said the Professor, as though looking at him in a new light. "Well, keep practicing," she said. "You'll want to study up as well; there are numerous texts in the library, Madam Pince can help you find the ones you'll need. There's no need to do nothing until you get yourself a wand."

After giving him directions to the library, and a schedule for her two third year classes, Professor McGonagall moved on to the rest of her charges. Harry continued his attempts through the rest of the class, making only a little progress. When a chime went off to signal the end of the class, Harry recalled the nanites back into his clothing.

When Harry exited the classroom, he found a boy there waiting for him, one of the few from the classroom who had actually been shorter than Harry. His robes were trimmed in yellow and black, though Harry couldn't remember if those signified Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw. The blond haired, wide-eyed boy stuck out a hand and introduced himself.

"Hi, I'm Colin Creevey."

Harry shook the boy's hand. "Harry Potter," he introduced himself, though he knew by now that he didn't need to.

"It's nice to meet you," the boy went on. "I'm a muggleborn, you see. No one knows what happened Halloween night, thirteen years ago, but whatever did happen helped to pave the way to today. That is to say, that a person like me can go to Hogwarts and learn magic, without fear of being killed by Death Eaters. So thank you." The boy spoke very quickly, but as though he was also refraining from speaking even faster.

"Um," said Harry, "you're welcome." He found himself shaking the boy's hand again.

"Of course, words don't really count for much, I think," said Colin. "That's why I'd like to offer my services. The speculation has been that you learned magic outside of the wizarding world, so I thought that my perspective as a muggleborn who's been here for a little while might be appreciated."

"Really?" said Harry. "Alright then." They had begun walking down the corridor now. "What's it like living where most technology doesn't work?"

"Good question," said the boy appreciatively. "It was weird at first. I mean, the wizarding world actually has a lot of things that function similarly to technologies in the muggle world, or even surpass them in many ways. No video games though, or computers for that matter. At first, it's like you've stepped into the stone age, and you miss all of the muggle conveniences. Well, you miss them when you aren't gawking at the brooms and the portraits and the ghosts. But then you go home on holiday, and you realize you miss all of the conveniences of the wizarding world. Like, I get sick a lot. It used to be I'd be miserable for a week, but here I'll have steam coming out of my ears seconds after I step into the infirmary, and I'll be as good as new. Magical medicine is far superior. And then you've got transportation. Brooms, Portkeys, the Floo, and Apparation all out class muggle forms of transportation. Justin was just telling me about the family trip he took in South America on a flying carpet, it sounded amazing."

"What if you wanted to send an email to someone?" Hoccupyingarry asked.

"I'll grant you, email is very convenient," said Colin. You can send multiple multimedia copies to many people instantly. I don't know of any magical method that can match that. On the other hand, here you can pull your friends in from all corners of the world within an hour to show them whatever. Or you could stick your head in a fire place, and tell them in person. If all else fails, you can owl them."

"Owl them?" Harry asked.

"Like carrier pigeons," said Colin, "only they're owls, and they can find anyone anywhere in the world, and they can usually get there within a day. Unless of course you're trying to send them to the Bermuda triangle, in which case, send five, and not your friends."

"Right," said Harry, unsure if Colin was speaking from experience. "Are there any owls for student use?"

!

Sirius stepped out of the Stargate and looked around appreciatively. It was his first time in the SG-C, as he had never been sure whether he would be arrested or not if he accompanied Harry on any of his visits. This time though, he had their assurances. Not that he wouldn't have come without them; Harry was missing, abducted, and Sirius would do what he did best. He was going to find and protect his godson.

"Hello Sirius, I never thought I'd see you here."

Sirius looked down the gate ramp and saw Samantha Carter, who looked as beautiful as ever.

"Yeah," said Sirius, "and I didn't think my godson would be dragged half way across the universe twice in my life time."

"Harry's got a knack for finding trouble," said Sam. "Want to go pull him out of the kettle one more time?"

"Do you have to ask?"

A/N: Thanks for reading, guys and girls. As always, extra thanks to those that review. 


	4. 03 Revelations

Disclaimer: I tried to buy the rights for Stargate and Harry Potter, but my generous offer of $100 was rejected for some reason, so for now I will have to settle for writing fan-fiction without getting paid for my work.

A/N: Well guys, I'm sorry to say that I am no longer writing this story. I had an idea for it a long time ago, so when the time came, I went with it. However, I realized that I didn't have anything to say. But good news, my beta has kindly accepted the charge to complete this story, and so far I think he's doing a wonderful job. I'm still working with him on this, taking over as beta. I hope that you enjoy what's to come.

Authors Note: Hello everyone, this is your new author (former Beta) The Lord of Chaos. It seems that althor42 decided to abandon this story :(. Originally he was just going to have Harry and Edward fall in love in this chapter and end with the words 'and they lived happily ever after.' But luckily for you, I talked him into letting me finish the story instead. You can look forward to a new story by althor42 that looks very promising.

This chapter just got too long however, so I decided to split it up into two, I hope to have the other one up in two weeks or less.

Revelations

Though it had been over three years since he had woken up on another world, surrounded by aliens, his godson, and crystalline walls, with no memory of his past, and chunks of his knowledge seared from his mind, Sirius Black still felt as though a part of himself was missing. Of course, he had built a new life for himself with his Godson on Tollana, a life to replace the one he had lost; and if the dreams he still had of his previous life, shadowy memories of pain and sorrow, were any indication, then he certainly had a better one now than the one before. Unfortunately, it was times like now, when he most needed what had been taken, that he most felt the loss.

"I can tell you the names and general locations of many of the major schools of magic throughout the world, though many of the older ones still cling to the wards that leave their location unplotable. I can tell you of the various wards that would make it impossible for non-magical persons such as yourselves to find, let alone go to, any such site, and I can tell you of the many international statutes that make this conversation highly illegal. Unfortunately, the one thing I cannot tell you is where any magical school in the UK would be, and that is the most likely place for Harry to be. That is the only place that anyone magical would probably even know about Harry or have any possible reason to drag him all the way from across the universe." He was sitting in the Briefing Room at the SGC with General Landry, Samantha Carter, and Dr. Jackson, discussing how they would find his Godson, Harry. He had never before discussed the wizarding world with anyone other than Harry, though he knew that Harry had passed some of it on to his friends in the military. It certainly felt weird to do so now, especially in such a formal setting. But he would do anything to see to the safety of his Godson.

"Why can you tell us about the rest of the world but not your home country?" asked the General.

"The Tollans believe that when the curse that consumed his memories attacked his knowledge, it started with that which was most recently stored, and the knowledge that was most significant to him," supplied Sam.

"So obscure bits about the schools around the world stayed, and where I spent a good chunk of my childhood vanished," answered Sirius.

"Where would you start looking?" asked Dr. Jackson.

"I think I'll start here in America, I remember enough to find this one community in New York, I think that I should be able to find at least enough to get on with. Though I doubt that anyone who hasn't actually gone to the school will be able to tell me much more than a name."

"How well can you disguise yourself?" asked Dr. Jackson.

"Do you think that's necessary?" the General asked skeptically.

Sirius cleared his throat. "The Tollan mind healers that I have worked with believe that I exhibit the symptoms of someone who had been confined in rather poor conditions for a very long time. Whatever happened during my previous life, I have to consider that it is possible that I was a prisoner of some sort and that I may be a wanted man." He turned to Dr. Jackson, "And yes, I am very good at disguising myself." He transfigured himself to look like an old Scandinavian man and then back with a smile on his face.

The General nodded curtly, and Sirius was reminded of the fact that before he had lost his memories and left Earth, he had committed a fair few crimes involving the SGC and it's personnel. He was about to go on when an airman walked in and addressed the General. After they had gone through the protocol that militaries everywhere seemed to love, the man produced a scroll and explained...

"Sir, according to one of the guards stationed above, an owl swooped down and dropped this at the entrance to the mountain. It appears to be addressed to you."

The airman handed the scroll to the General who dismissed him. Landry opened it curiously and announced, "It's from Harry."

Dr. Jackson's eyebrows were raised fairly high, "How exactly?"

"Oh, we use owls to courier messages," Sirius supplied.

"Again, I have to ask, how exactly?"

Sirius shrugged. "I doubt that that was ever my area of expertise. Anyway, I for one am very interested to hear what it says."

The General handed it to Dr. Jackson, who placed it on a contraption next to a host of other contraptions all connected by wires. Suddenly the letter was being projected against the wall from a unit over their heads.

_ Landry,_

_ First and foremost it is imperative that Sirius not return to Earth. It appears that the head of this backwards self-governed community has condemned him to death without so much as a trial, on charges I certainly don't believe. Sirius, if you are already here on Earth, then you should be on the lookout for creatures called dementors, I hope you can remember more about them than I've gathered, but apparently they guard the prison you escaped from and they have orders to suck your soul out on sight; apparently they can do that._

_ I have been told, by a source that I don't know I can trust, that I was brought here by what is called an Inverse-Portkey, called the Goblet of Fire. It is, of all things, a part of a tournament. As well as pulling people from across the galaxy, it seems that this device somehow chooses from a number of applicants from what are apparently the three premier schools of magic in Europe and binds them, some how, to compete in this tournament. They are calling me the Fourth Champion, and so far it appears that I am bound by this device, and I do appear to be trapped within the confines of the area. I can't even jump through a hyperspace window. The Headmaster of this school has informed me that it would be impossible to unbind me until the completion of this tournament. _

_ I have been assured that no one knows who tricked this device into taking me, though I have been told that there is a madman out there who seems to bear a grudge against me for something that happened when I was an infant. This Tournament has a history of being quite dangerous, for all that it is school children who compete in it .If someone wishes me ill, there will be several opportunities coming up for them to act. I have been told that tampering with the device can be dangerous to myself and the other champions, or so they say, and I have been denied access to it. _

_ I am at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Unfortunately, it is somehow "unplotable," its location cannot be labeled on a map or expressed as coordinates. They can somehow block my communicator though I am theorizing ways to reveal my location that can be picked up by Earth satellites. I can tell you that students arrive at this school by a train, which leaves from a hidden platform at Kings Cross Station. I have been told by one of the students that the platform is located between platforms nine and ten, the students simply walk through the wall that divides the two platforms. I have hope that it would be possible to follow the train tracks from there. _

_ For now I seem to be somewhat safe. While they deny me access to the device that is keeping me here, I am not being treated as a prisoner. The first task in this tournament comes up on the twenty-fourth of this month, though I hope to be gone long before then. I will write soon with more updates. Please send my regards to the Atlantis Expedition and please inform me of the outcome of the battle with your return letter._

_ Harry_

"Do you remember anything about Dementors?" asked Sam.

Sirius pondered the question for a moment, the name sounded familiar and a part of him felt as though he was lost of a sudden; trapped in the dark with no hope of ever seeing the light. Despair welled up within him until he shook his head to clear it. "No," he said after a moment. "But I don't think that I should ever like to meet one."

"Is that even possible?" asked Dr. Jackson. "To remove someone's soul?"

"It is, certainly. There are a few dark rituals that rely on this actually. Removing the soul makes it easier to access someone else's life energy. But only the darkest of wizard would even contemplate it. The power that results has a heavily corruptible affect on the mind and soul of the one who performs the ritual."

"Do you remember Hogwarts or this tri-wizard tournament or anything about Inverse-Portkeys?" asked Sam.

Sirius pondered this for a while and answered, "I have absolutely no memory of this school, which probably means it is the one I went to as a child. I do remember the tri-wizard tournament, but only a very little. Long ago, the three premier schools in Europe got together every few years to put on this tournament. The students who wanted to participate entered their names into the Goblet of Fire, which would then select one champion from each school. Apart from that, all I remember is that the tradition was ended a long time ago when the death toll became too high."

"The death toll?" asked a shocked Dr. Jackson.

"The events that the champions competed in were always dangerous. It wasn't just their skill that the tournament tested, that wouldn't be enough. The tournament was a show of strength for each school; it wasn't enough to produce the smartest students, they had to be the bravest, the strongest. Now, if the Goblet of Fire binds the champions as well, then it would make sense that it would be an Inverse Portkey; that is, it would have the ability to draw someone from far away to it. But that still doesn't make sense. Inverse Portkeys have the same limitations as regular Portkeys. There's no way you could make one pull someone from another galaxy. No Portkey could ever even reach the moon."

"Is there no way to augment the power of one of these Portkeys?" asked Sam.

Sirius mulled that over for a moment, "there was a case once, of a man who was traveling by Portkey during one of the early tests of those reactors of yours. Later examination showed that he traveled directly through the center of this reaction and was shot all the way past the moon. He died of course, but it started a lot of speculation on methods to create stronger Portkeys. If someone somehow managed... no it still doesn't make sense, no power exists on this Earth that would be capable of reaching into another galaxy."

Sam considered this for a moment, "one time, SG-1 was on a ha'tak vessel, and we entered hyperspace just a second before the wake of a supernova would have hit us. It somehow knocked us into a different galaxy."

Sirius though on that for a moment. "The thing about Inverse Portkeys is that they have to be linked to you in order to work. Now I don't know how anyone on Earth could have linked to Harry when he wasn't there, but if they managed it then the Portkey would have been able to locate Harry even if he was on the other side of the universe. Now the magic involved would have a very basic instinct as it reached out to Harry. If a wizard could have somehow augmented the Portkey to have enough power to reach the sun, it might have then received a massive burst in energy. If that would have been enough for it to travel all the way to another galaxy, well I don't know, but once it connected to Harry it would have had no need of star travel to pull him all the way back, it would have been like a rubber band stretched out."

"Could you trace the pathway back to where he is now," asked Sam.

"Not over that distance, not unless I was there when it happened."

"I still don't understand, how could the Portkey find Harry, did it search the whole universe for him?" asked an intrigued Sam.

Sirius shook his head, "no, everything in the universe is already connected, it's one of the guiding principals of magic. Harry spent a good deal of time trying to identify this connection after we'd discussed it. He said it has something to do with subspace, but he never got much farther than that."

Sam nodded, "Harry's mentioned before that he has trouble analyzing and using the exotic particles that exist in subspace. If this device is linked to him through subspace then that's probably why he hasn't managed to sever the connection yet."

"This platform between nine and ten shouldn't be too hard to find. With IOA cooperation we should be able to get a team in there to follow the tracks," announced the general.

Sirius shook his head, "you have to understand, most of the old schools in Europe are very protective of their location, and it would be very difficult to bring any non-magical persons with me. However, though the school would have to be at least a millennia old in order to be part of this tournament, the steam engine is a relatively modern invention, and the platform will be protected by modern wards. I have a chance of getting in on my own, but it would be all but impossible to bring a non-magical person with me. I'll need a few supplies and then I can get to work on getting through."

"Like what?"

"A few potions, travel supplies and a halfway decent broom."

"A broom?" asked a confused General.

"To fly on of course, you don't think I'm going to walk the tracks the whole way do you?"

Sam looked like she wanted to ask questions but the General just shook his head and asked, "what will you need from us?"

Sirius considered this for a moment before replying, "about six thousand pounds, and transportation from New York to London under an assumed name."

"I can approve that," said the General. "Now what does he mean, 'your reply letter'? Can you get us access to an owl?"

"Oh there's no need, he probably told the owl to wait for a reply. Just have one of your officers stand outside, hold the letter up and whistle and the owl should swoop down and take it."

"We could attach a tracking device," suggested Dr. Jackson.

"We could try," said Sam. "But if Harry's communicator is being blocked somehow then that might prove difficult."

"Well," said the General turning to Sirius, "an airman will take you to the quartermaster where you can get your funds. Major Carter, I want you to put together as many sorts of tracking devices together as you can. Dr. Jackson, write a letter to Captain Potter and explain what we've discussed, as well as the outcome of Atlantis's battle with the wraith. Then I can order an airman to stand outside and whistle for a bird."

Sirius smiled, perhaps he wouldn't need his lost memories after all.

IIIIIII

"Good morning class. I am professor Potter and we are here today to learn about the nature of the universe we live in."

After he had sent the letter to Landry the day before, Professor Dumbledore had announced at lunch that Harry would be teaching physics, "a most intriguing subject" on Wednesdays and Fridays before breakfast, when it wouldn't interfere with anyone's classes.

When he had told The Headmaster that he would teach physics, he had not been sure how far the class would go. Sirius had never shown anything but a basic understanding of algebra and trigonometry, and most of the students seemed to think that science was "that thing that muggles use to imitate magic." A part of him wanted to do things properly, which would mean starting from the very beginning. That would, of course, take a very long time. Even if he could not leave until the end of the tournament, he would never have enough time. But he could give them knowledge to work off of; he could give them tools to study the nature of what they were, like they couldn't before. Hopefully, some of them would then take the time to learn what they needed to learn to get a good grasp of the nature of the universe and of magic.

A good many students of all ages had shown up, some of whom appeared to be from the other schools, as well a number of professors. Harry supposed that a good many of them were just there out of curiosity; possibly curiosity about him, but he hoped that he could get many of them to stay.

"Who can tell me what physics is?" he asked the class.

A hand went up in the front, and Harry saw that it was the girl he had met on his first night, Hermione Granger. Suddenly he wasn't sure how he should address the students in the class, so he settled on how Professor McGonagall had addressed students in her classroom.

"Yes Miss Granger?"

"Physics is the study of how everything in the universe exists and interacts with everything around it."

"Very well put Miss Granger, I would give you points but I'm not quite sure that I have that authority."

Professor McGonagall spoke up from the back of class, "Two points to Gryffindor."

"Yes, thank you," Harry nodded to the professor. "Everything in the universe is governed by physics. Everything from the gravity that effects an object as it falls to the ground, to how the atoms that you are built from work together to create a living breathing human, every action in the universe, every reaction, is governed and predicted by physics," and here he paused for affect. "Even magic."

There were quite a variety of reactions from the observers around the lecture hall. Many laughed as though he had made a good joke, others scoffed at the very notion, and some seemed intrigued. A few, however, took up looks of great indignation, and one boy stood up. Harry was unsurprised to see that it was Draco Malfoy.

"Magic has nothing to do with your filthy muggle science!" he said, outraged. "Science can't explain magic, only try to imitate it."

Once more the voice of Professor McGonagall rang out through the hall "Mr. Malfoy, sit down or you will be excused from this class. Five points from Slytherin"

With Draco still standing Harry addressed him calmly, actually intrigued by what he had to say. "Perhaps you can tell us where magic comes from, what it is."

Draco stood up taller, and if any thing more arrogantly, and said proudly, "Magic is the power I was born with; I inherited it from my father and my mother, and their parents before them going back countless generations. Magic isn't controlled by physics, magic goes around it and bends the universe to its will."

A younger boy stood up and said less heatedly, "Gravity might pull an object to the ground but magic can lift it up and make it float." He flourished his wand and a piece of chalk from the board behind him rose and started to float.

Harry smiled. "But does the chalk not do the same thing when I pick it up and hold it. Does magic negate gravity, or does your magic simply apply an upward force greater than the hold of gravity, like I am doing now."

Once more Hermione's hand rose and Harry called on her. "But where does the energy come from. One of the basic principals of physics states that you can't create energy. If magic comes from within me and it is governed by physics, then why is it that I can create a magical fire that would burn hotter and longer than all of the calories in my body?"

"Now that is the question," said Harry enthusiastically. "Where does magic come from? Where does the energy come from, and how do we use it? And most importantly, to some I'm sure, how can we use this knowledge to gain a greater control of our magic and the universe around us?"

"The energy does not come from nowhere; the energy is all around us and inside us. It is in the vacuum of space; it is in the space between molecules; and it is in the spaces between the very building blocks of atoms. This energy is very hard to detect, in fact until recently, the only way that physicists even knew it existed was by observing how it affected the universe. We call this energy zero-point-energy."

"Now of course magic isn't just energy; you see when we access zero point energy, the conduit releases what are called exotic particles; particles that we don't observe in nature. Particles like tachyons, sleptons, gravitons, or graviphotons, to name a few. But that leaves the question, how do we use zero-point-energy?" In front of him a holographic projection of the top half of a human male appeared. "This is a wizard, and aside from a few slight differences, he is no different from the rest of the humans on Earth. Yet it is those small differences that gives him the ability to access zero-point-energy and to use the particles released to create what you call magic. Let's take a closer look. Inside of this wizard, here," the hologram changed to show the insides of the wizard. "You can see a gland, which is unique to wizards. This gland secretes chemicals that convert zero-point-energy into a form of energy we can use, and elicits exotic particles. And here," once more the image changed to show a representation of the brain. "You can see a small part of the brain, about the size of a grape, that governs the use of this energy. You use this energy and these particles to form spells. Once you begin to understand the nature of these particles and how they interact with one another, you can begin to understand, predict and create magic."

"Where's your proof," demanded the blond boy.

Harry smiled at Draco, "The Wingardium Leviosa spell uses, primarily, tachyons and gravitons, and through the study of exotic particles I know that tachyons are dispersed by axions. I know that if I flood this room with axions, that you won't be able to use the Wingardium Leviosa spell in this room until the particles disperse." As well as a few other spells.

Harry paused for a moment, "you can go ahead and try now."

The boy smirked and flourished his wand and cast the spell. When nothing happened he turned and tried the spell on another object and then another. He kept turning, casting the spell on random objects. Harry noticed a few students around the room trying the spell as well. Draco turned back to face Harry with a look that could have curdled milk.

"By understanding the nature of the universe we live in, Mr. Malfoy, we can begin to make the changes we want," Harry said calmly. Harry waved his hand, "Go ahead, I've dispersed the particles, you can try again."

Without a word Draco turned on his heel and walked coldly out of the room, several students followed him while others once more tried to perform the spell. A variety of objects started to float.

As though nothing had just happened, Harry smiled and addressed the rest of the class. "The rest of the period will be question and answer, at the end you can all decide if you want to wake up early for these classes."

As he answered questions for the class, Harry wondered again just how far he would take these instructions. Their society was so archaic in many ways; too much knowledge would be dangerous to them and to every other society on the planet. But he could get them started, give them a taste of what was out there to be discovered, so that their only choice would be to tear down the walls that they had built to keep the progress of the rest of the world out. There were a few exotic particles that were safe enough to experiment with, and he could teach them to detect them and their properties. When they wanted to learn more they would have to discover it for themselves. Harry smiled; perhaps he could pull these people out of the middle ages.

IIIIIIII

"Professor Potter, I had a few more questions," said Hermione Granger.

By the end of the hour Hermione had managed to ask most of the questions as well as a few other students, who seemed to have a small grasp of physics. Harry smiled at the girl who had come down to the front as the other students filed out. He noticed some of the boys from his dormitory trailing behind her. Ron seemed amused by her behavior.

"Perhaps you should write them down and give them to me at lunch. I think I speak for everyone when I say I'm ready for breakfast."

"Yeah, come on 'Mione I'm starving," said Ron.

A fond smile flashed on her face before she rounded on the boy. "Ronald Weasley, if you were lying on the floor, bleeding, and drawing your last breath, it would be to complain that you were starving"

Dean Thomas put on a fairly good imitation of the bushy haired girl, "oh my goodness, Ron are you all right?"

Followed by a death rattle from Seamus Finnegan, "I'm all right, but I sure am starving."

"You'll be the one bleeding on the floor," Ron told Seamus. "Mad-Eye said we'd be dueling in class today after breakfast. Come on, before I do starve to death."

The students excused themselves and walked out, Harry followed and found himself walking out with Professor McGonagall.

"Will you be enrolling as a student, Professor?" he said with a smile.

"As deputy headmistress, it is my job to evaluate new professors at this school, to ensure the quality of our students' education," she said very properly. "However, I may audit your class from time to time, as my schedule allows. An educator should always stay current."

"And have I passed your evaluation?" Harry asked.

"In spite of the fact that a part of your class staged a walk out, you handled yourself well. Students may often try to rile a professor and it is important that you not let them. You captured your students' attention and you kept it for the whole class. If not for the facts that your field is nonexistent in the wizarding world, you do not follow any ministry curriculum, and you have no credentials, I would recommend that you be hired by the Board. That will not be necessary, however, as it seems the headmaster will be paying you with a seat at the staff table."

Harry laughed at this. "So what do you think of my field?"

At this the professor looked uncomfortable, "I cannot deny that you have a grasp on magic beyond anything I have ever seen. However I have been a teacher of magic for most of my life, and I find it difficult to hear that magic is not magic."

Harry shook his head, "magic is still magic; the spells haven't changed. Like everything else in the universe, you have discovered that there is more there than you thought."

The professor nodded, "perhaps even more difficult, is to conclude that muggles have been studying magic. It is clear that you have not been in the wizarding world these past few years. Your mix of magic and science and technology leaves me little else to conclude."

"What do you think would happen, if the muggle world mastered magic, in their own way?"

The professor paused, "it could mean war, or it could mean a new era of peace and prosperity if our two worlds ever merged. Whatever happens, the world will be irrevocably changed."

Harry smiled, "we can't stop change, it is inevitable. We can only try to make change a positive factor in our lives. Tell me professor," he said changing the subject. "Will I always rely on another professor when I teach class, or will I be allowed to take and give points."

Professor McGonagall seemed grateful to be discussing something else. "I see no reason to deny you provisional access to the house system. Though I do not think that I will be the only professor to audit your class from time to time. Enjoy your breakfast Mr. Potter." They had reached the great hall.

Harry walked over to his seat in between Professor Sinistra and Professor Moody. As he pulled his chair out though quite a few things happened at once. There were several flashes of light and a number of bangs, and even as he focused inward upon himself he saw Professor Moody fall back in surprise. He shot himself across the room and turned around surveying the hall with his shield up and a ball of plasma in his hand. But all he saw were students, and all he heard was laughter. He looked up at the table, and saw the remnants of fireworks and a banner with the words The Boy Who Disappeared, a small stick figure drawing of himself that kept disappearing and reappearing all over the banner. Harry wondered if the culprit had predicted that he would disappear from the table or if that had been a happy coincidence for them. Up at the table Professor Moody's eye was spinning about furiously, and Professor Sinistra seemed mildly put out. Figuring that it was too late to pretend as though nothing had just happened, Harry just laughed with the rest of the students and shot himself back to the table and began to help himself to the food. While he ate he made small talk with Professors Moody and Sinistra, Moody's eye was still spinning around in every direction.

Harry asked the professor, "Does that eye see out the back of your skull?"

"It does," said the grizzled and scarred professor. "Took me some time to track down a good one after I lost the first, but it was worth the loss and the search, won't anyone be sneaking up on old Mad Eye; Constant Vigilance," he said with emphasis. "You did well when those fireworks went off, I saw you, you've got a good head on your shoulders. Of course you can't be too careful when someone's plotting to kill you. How far are you into your studies of the Defense Against the Dark Arts?"

"I actually haven't studied much into the dark arts, my defensive skills follow a different path. But you are right of course, someone is plotting against me, so I should be learning about the tactics that they might use. Perhaps you can make some suggestions on the matter."

"I do, I have a sixth year class after lunch; they're studying to defend themselves from the darkest of the dark arts. You can sit in if you want. I'll have a test for you, see where you are in your studies."

At that moment, the large man from the morning before, Hagrid, came running up to the staff table. He had dirt on his hands and he looked upset. He went straight to the Headmaster and spoke in his ear. The headmaster nodded his head to whatever the man was saying, and rose up looking weary. Together the two left the table. Unhappy to have his breakfast cut short for the second morning in a row, Harry discretely got up and followed them out. He saw them exit out to the grounds. Leaving the castle, Harry transformed into a falcon and flew up and followed the two professors as they made their way across the field toward the great lake. On the shore between two trees Harry could see what it was that had caused the disruption of his meal. Halfway sticking out of the ground was a slightly mangled body, looking for all the world as though it had erupted from the ground. Landing in one of the trees, Harry transformed and waited for the two men.

"I'm tellin' you professor it's the same e'sact spot," said the large man.

The Headmaster surveyed the area and asked, "had you been by this spot since they left last night?"

"No Professor, I headed back to me cabin after I escorted them to the castle."

The Headmaster waved his wand and the ground parted to uncover the rest of the man. A flick, and the man rose up and turned over. The headmaster looked surprised.

"It's no', it can' be." said Hagrid.

"It is quite a large coincidence," nodded the Headmaster.

"Professor?" enquired Hagrid.

The headmaster shook his head and turned to the grounds keeper. "Please go to my office and use the floo to summon the aurors, don't tell to anyone else about this."

The man nodded and walked away at a fast pace.

"Was this your doing, Harry?"

Harry berated himself for assuming the headmaster would not be able to detect him. "I certainly didn't kill this man. Why would I? I don't know him."

The headmaster shook his head, "I'm not asking if you killed this man, for he has been dead for many years. I'm asking if you created a body to look like one of the men your godfather killed. The coincidence is quite large, that this body should appear not long after you. If this is your attempt to clear his name, you should know we have ways to determine the truth from the body."

Harry pushed his power into his legs as he dropped from the tree. "I assure you, I have no knowledge of any of the people my godfather is _accused_ of killing, nor do I have the skills in transfiguration to pull this off; Professor McGonagall can attest to that. Furthermore, I couldn't have planned any of this. However, I agree that this is a rather large coincidence."

The Headmaster looked him in the eyes for a moment and Harry got the sudden feeling that he was being watched from behind. He spun around but no one was there. He turned back to the headmaster who looked intrigued, but all the man said was "I believe you."

Harry nodded and leaned over the body and started delving it. What he found was unsettling.

"All of these injuries occurred after he died and are consistent with crush injuries, but I can find no cause of death. What did Hagrid mean when he said that this was the exact same spot? The same spot as what?"

For a moment it appeared as though the headmaster would not speak, but after a moment he said, "Ronald Weasley and his friends buried his pet rat here last night."

Harry's eyebrows shot up at the implication. He looked at the body and the injuries, and he remembered how it had first looked before it had been uncovered. The body had indeed erupted from the ground, having grown rapidly from the form of a rat to a full sized man.

"What happens to an animagus, if they die in their animal form?"

The Headmaster sighed, "They will eventually revert to their human form; the greater the mass difference, the sooner the transformation."

"Then we have a number of questions in front of us: is this man the man he appears to be, was he an animagus, why would he fake his death to live his life as a rat, how did he die, why did he die when I got here, and was he somehow connected to whoever brought me here. It would be a good idea to obtain copies of whatever materials were gathered in the investigation of this man's original 'death'. How long should it take for these aurors to get here?"

"I told you that your godfather was accused of killing a friend of your parents who tried to stop him, this is that man, Peter Pettigrew. He was a close friend of your father's, Sirius Black, and another man Remus Lupin; they were in the same year together in Hogwarts, and it seemed that they were inseparable. When you disappeared I asked Remus to try to find you, and he has spent these past few years doing so. If anyone alive would know if Peter Pettigrew was an animagus, it would be him."

"Remus Lupin," said Harry, "yes, I remember he caused a bit of a commotion a while ago, asking questions he shouldn't have known to ask. I didn't realize that I had left a trail that would take years to follow."

"After he had pursued all reasonable avenues of investigation, I asked him to research the less reasonable. The tomb you disappeared from bore a reference to a sky chariot; as well, we also found reference to a creature that took many forms, one of which appears to be the snake like creature that possessed you in the airport. Once I opened myself to the idea that you had been taken off this planet by beings from another, it opened many areas to be researched. Remus Lupin was in Peru when you appeared in the Great Hall on Halloween, he will be on his way here now. I expect that after all these years he should like to see you finally. I am curious however, if you knew that you where being looked for, why did you never make an effort to be found?"

Harry thought for a moment. "Due to the nature of what I have been doing these past few years, it would not have been a good idea to advertise my existence. Besides, it is not as though he left a calling card." Furthermore, he had left little lost Harry Potter behind a long time ago, and he had seen no reason to connect with anyone looking for that boy.

The headmasters head rose, and for a moment it looked like he was seeing something that wasn't there. He looked at Harry, "The aurors have arrived. It would be best if they did not know that you were here."

Harry shook his head, "If this is Peter Pettigrew, then this could lead to my godfather's name being cleared, or at least the recall of his death sentence, I go nowhere until his identity has been established." He made a note of the fact that the Headmaster could apparently detect others crossing the wards of the school. It wasn't long before Harry could see three men in formal looking robes walking towards the lake next to the Grounds Keeper. The men looked surprised when they saw Harry waiting with the Headmaster.

"Headmaster, Mr. Potter, I am Auror Miles, this is my partner Auror McDaniel, and this is Jonathan Monroe, our Forensic Examiner." He looked at the body, "it seems that a day can't go by here without something bizarre happening."

Auror McDaniel spoke up, "Mr. Potter, are you a witness to this crime?"

"I was only made aware of it this morning."

"Then you will need to wait in the castle, this is not the place for a civilian observer, Aurors will be arriving later today to interview you, so that we can close the case on your disappearance and further the search for Sirius Black; you can expect them at eleven this morning," the man said not unkindly.

"From what I know of your legal system, it seems that you do in fact need outside observers. I am here representing the interests of my godfather Sirius Black, who was denied a proper investigation and a trial thirteen years ago. If this man is Peter Pettigrew, then I will ensure that this matter is properly investigated so that the truth can be revealed."

"Sirius Black," said an incredulous Auror McDaniels. "The man is a mass murderer, one of the darkest wizards of our generation. A trial is just a formality when guilt is certain, a formality we didn't have time for thirteen years ago when Death Eaters like him had torn this country apart. Now I don't know yet why a body resembling Peter Pettigrew is here, but when I do, I'll be sure to tell the aurors who interview you to pass it on, since you will be waiting in the castle."

Energy crackled, arcing between Harry's fingers. "If you refuse to perform your investigation with my supervision, then I'll send you away and you can go get Aurors who will."

Auror Miles started heatedly, "Mr. Potter, you may have caught the Minister's Hit Wizard by surprise, but I assure you that aurors are not so easily bested. Now allowances were made after your assault on the Minister yesterday, due to the nature of your circumstances, but do not think that you can continue as you have without the Ministry of Magic taking action against you."

Harry opened his mouth to respond but Professor Dumbledore beat him to it.

"Perhaps it would be better if we simply started this investigation, Mr. Potter will not interfere in the proceedings," the Headmaster interrupted whatever it was that Auror Miles was going to say with a look.

Both Aurors looked like they did not wish the matter to be closed, but once more the strength of Professor Dumbledore's presence seemed to win out. The aurors started asking questions of the Headmaster and the Grounds Keeper, and were told about Ronald Weasley's dead pet rat. Both aurors started observing the body, waving their wands about, muttering incantations, and dictating their observations out loud. Meanwhile the Forensic Examiner held his wand out over the body and started chanting in pseudo Latin and a number of runic shapes started appearing over the body. The man frowned at what he was seeing. After he was done he took out some parchment and a quill. He cast a spell on the body, and a small pool of blood welled up from one of the abrasions. Much like Sirius had done, he dipped the quill in the blood and placed it on the parchment and with a wave of his wand and an "Appelloto Cruror," the name Peter Pettigrew was written on the parchment. The man frowned at what he saw, all three of them did. One of the aurors looked at Harry suspiciously and waved his wand in a complex pattern that Harry recognized to be common to many wards.

"Try it again," he said to the Examiner.

The man repeated the whole process over again, and once more frowned at the name Peter Pettigrew.

"Can you determine if this man was an animagus?" Harry asked.

"I already did, and he is," said the man. "Furthermore," he addressed the group, "he is missing his finger, and has been for some time.

Harry looked at Professor Dumbledore questioningly.

"The only part of Peter Pettigrew that was ever found after the explosion was his finger," supplied the Professor.

"How convenient," Harry replied. "What can you conclude from your examination?"

The man cleared his throat. "It would appear that these injuries occurred after he died, when he went from a very small state to a larger state while under ground. As to his cause of death," and here he looked very uncomfortable. "It would appear that his life energy was completely drained."

Even Dumbledore looked disturbed by this revelation.

"What about his soul?" asked an aghast Auror Miles.

The Examiner shook his head, "the soul wasn't touched, whoever did this got around the soul to access the life energy."

Harry wasn't sure what the soul had to do with the life energy, or why everyone was so affected by the findings, but there was one thing he wanted to know. "To what degree can you determine the time of death?"

The man waved his wand over the body, "he died thirty five hours and twenty four minutes ago."

Harry thought for a moment, that would be when he was grabbed by the Portkey. He would have to think on it later, when he had more information.

"So walk me through this, what happened thirteen years ago that lead my godfather being sent to your demon prison."

"Thirteen years ago, Harry, your parents were the prime targets of Voldemort. It was decided that they should go into hiding, under the Fidelius Charm. Under the Fidelius Charm, a Secret Keeper is chosen, and from that point on, until the charm is broken, the only way to find the place that those under it are hiding, is to be told by the Secret Keeper. Your parents told me that they had chosen Sirius Black as their secret keeper, and for a week they stayed in hiding, until Halloween, when Voldemort went to their home and killed them. The next day Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew met on a street and after Peter accused Sirius of betraying your parents, the spot where he was standing exploded, killing many bystanders. When the ministry arrived on the scene, your godfather was standing there laughing."

Harry looked at the two Aurors, "given that Peter Pettigrew clearly faked his death thirteen years ago, you can see that it is incredibly unlikely that my godfather is the one who cast that curse, and it is unlikely that he was in fact this Secret Keeper."

The two aurors looked at each other uncomfortably. "We can not comment on such matters, we need to bring our findings back to the Ministry," said Auror McDaniel. He waved his wand and the body started to hover over the ground. "Auror Miles will stay to interview the students who were part of the burial last night."

"Wait a minute," said Harry, aghast. "You can't leave here with the body without having even documented anything."

"Everything has been documented Harry," supplied the Headmaster. "When they return to the ministry, their memories of these proceedings will be copied and saved for future analysis."

"I need a copy," demanded Harry.

"If you wish, I can provide you with a copy of my own memory of this mornings events," the Headmaster said, before either of the Aurors could object to Harry's demand.

Harry nodded, and Auror McDaniel walked off with the body and the Magical Examiner. His stomach rumbled and he wondered if there was any breakfast left over.


	5. 04 Revelations II

Disclaimer: Don't own Stargate; wish I did. Don't own Harry Potter; oh if only.

Revelations II

'Boy-Who-Disappeared Named Fourth Champion in Tri-Wizard Tournament'.

Sirius stopped as he saw the headline of Wizarding World News at a corner newsstand. Handing the wizard a silver dollar, Sirius picked up the newspaper and read the article that largely featured his godson.

_The naming of the champions in the newly re-inaugurated Tri-Wizard Tournament was disrupted last night as, after the three champions were chosen, a fourth name came out of the Goblet of Fire. Just as the crowd had finished cheering for the chosen champions (Fleur Delacour from Beauxbaton, Cedric Diggory from Hogwarts, and international Quidditch star Viktor Krum from Durmstrang), the crowd hushed as the Goblet once more flared up and shot out a piece of paper with the name Harry Potter on it. Mere minutes later, the boy who disappeared five years ago, starting one of the largest international mysteries and a massive manhunt, appeared hurtling through the great hall of Hogwarts. Not many people know it, but the Goblet of Fire does not just choose contestants in the Tri-Wizard Tournament, it also binds them to compete and to stay at the competing school. For this reason, the cup is also an Inverse-Portkey, which somehow located the hidden Potter. While it would be understandable for anyone who had been abducted unexpectedly by a Portkey to be confused; eye witness's were baffled to report that Potter first asked what planet he was on before trying several different means of leaving the castle, being stopped each time by the Goblet of Fire. Unfortunately, it was then that the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, cleared the Hall._

_It is unknown how the Goblet of fire was tricked into finding Harry Potter, or who did it. The why can only be speculated upon, as now young Potter finds himself in a tournament that has claimed the lives of many before him._

_The story of Harry Potter is one of the most peculiar in recent times. The boy first made headlines thirteen years ago when, as an infant, he survived the Killing Curse, cast by none other than the Dark Lord Voldemort, the dark wizard who seemed poised to take over the Ministry of Magic and whose name many in Britain still fear to speak. Harry Potter is credited with defeating Voldemort, for after he was struck with the curse, it bounced back upon the seemingly indestructible Dark Lord, whose body was destroyed. After the night's events, which killed young Potter's parents, the boy was sent to live with his muggle relatives, where he was cloistered from the magical world for years. The mystery around Potter deepened exponentially, when years later the boy was abducted while at a landing strip for muggle flying machines with his Uncle. While the abduction at first appeared to be random happenstance, perpetrated by muggle criminals, it wasn't long before this random crime became a magical mystery. By the time anyone knew of the boys kidnapping, it had already been days since the abduction. When the tracking charms on the boy were consulted, they showed that the boy had been taken to a tomb in Egypt where the charms were inexplicably broken. It was less than a month later when the infamous Sirius Black, right hand man to the Dark Lord Voldemort, escaped from Azkaban Prison, where no one has escaped from before. There was much speculation at the time that Black must have somehow orchestrated the abduction while still in prison, before his escape. Before he made his allegiances known, Sirius Black had been a close friend to the Potters and is in fact Harry Potter's Godfather. He is also the man who betrayed them to Voldemort before openly killing a wizard and twelve muggles with a single curse on a busy muggle street. Harry Potter was never found, and many had assumed him dead at the hands of his Godfather until the Ministry of Magic announced months later that the boy had been spotted briefly._

_Where he has been, and what he has been doing has been a mystery that has captured the minds of countless wizards around the world, sparking a dozen books, five radio showcases, and countless headlines around the world. While the legend around Potter grows, there will undoubtedly be much speculation on where it will all go from here. Eyewitnesses report that Mr. Potter seemed to exhibit unknown, powerful forms of magic, and many wonder how the boy will do competing in a dangerous tournament designed for students three years his senior. Yet, as always, Wizarding World News will be at the forefront, your source for the latest in world events._

If Sirius' stomach did flips when he read about the Dark Lord that might have it in for Harry, it was nothing to how he felt when he read about his own supposed crimes. Deep down he knew that he would never have done anything of the sort, but it wasn't as though he had any memories to refute the charges. The truth was, he often thought about whom he had been before he had lost his memory. If a man was the sum of his life experiences, then maybe he had been a completely different person before. Sirius put down the paper; brooding wasn't going to help him find his godson. With a frown Sirius turned his back on the paper and gathered the supplies he had purchased. The Prometheus would be beaming him from the SGC to London. He glanced at the book he had bought on dark creatures. He hoped he wouldn't run into any dementors.

IIIIIIIIII

When Harry Potter had disappeared over four years ago, Auror Blake Saul had been partnered with Auror Mitchell who had headed up the investigation. Two years after the case had gone stone cold, Mitchell had taken a nasty curse from a hag in Kent and had decided to retire early, leaving Saul to head the mysterious investigation. In all that time, even when he hadn't had a lead to follow, he had never stopped thinking about that cold case. And now the boy had come back. When all attempts to find the boy had failed, the ancient Goblet of Fire had found him. He had waited for something like this to happen for four years, and now that it had, he couldn't help being frustrated with the lack of answers he was getting from the boy. He had been found; there should be no more mysteries left.

"That information is classified," was once more the boy's frustrating answer, said in a calm even tone.

Blake sighed, they had been at it for half an hour and, for the most part, the word 'classified,' had been on the tip of the boys tongue the whole time. He nodded at Auror Johansson. He supposed he should let the man have his turn. When Sirius Black had escaped, Johansson had taken the lead in the manhunt. They had often tried to find some link between the two cases, but aside from the incident with Harry Potter's relatives, there was nothing else to say that Sirius Black had had anything to do with the boy's disappearance, and the Black case had gone just as cold as his own.

"Your turn Joe"

Auror Johansson cleared his throat and asked. "Where is Sirius Black?" He had always taken a direct route in interrogations.

"Far away from here, I assure you" was the boy's answer.

"Mr. Potter, Sirius Black is a fugitive from justice. Harboring a fugitive makes you an accessory to his crimes. You don't want to go to prison for him do you?"

Blake had thought the boy would be a little hot headed, having heard that Harry and Auror Miles had almost come to an altercation, but if they had then the boy had obviously collected himself for the interview. Though his words were heated, he replied in a tone that sounded almost amused and a little condescending.

"Your society does not appear to understand the meaning of justice. My Godfather has been given asylum by a government that will not turn a man over to be tortured or murdered. By protecting him, I am an accessory to justice, and any threat to imprison me is not only unjust, but also empty. You can not remove me from the castle until I have completed this tournament, and even if I have not found my own way out by then, I will be far out of your reach when it does."

Johansson almost looked taken aback and Blake supposed that he had probably expected the boy to give in at the threat of imprisonment like most fourteen year olds would. Blake decided to step in.

"Perhaps you can tell us how he escaped." That had almost been as big a mystery as the boy's disappearance; though many had tried to figure out how he had escaped from the inescapable Azkaban, no one had ever come close, except to assume that it was dark magic of the highest caliber.

"I couldn't say how he escaped from your demon prison."

"Because it's 'classified'?" Was Johansson's exasperated response.

"Not at all," replied the boy. "I simply don't know how he escaped, neither does he. Shortly before he found me, he was struck with a nasty curse that destroyed all of his episodic memories. The only thing he could remember was what he kept in the forefront of his mind. That he had a Godson named Harry Potter who he needed to protect."

Saul looked at the boy skeptically while Johansson looked incensed.

"If you, or your godfather, expect us to believe such a ruse then you are sadly mistaken. The Ministry of Magic will find Black, and he will answer for his crimes. Whether or not he has any memory of them."

"I am curious to know what conclusions you have drawn from this mornings revelations. The recently deceased body of Peter Pettigrew was found. It is clear he faked his death thirteen years ago. Are you still so certain of my godfathers guilt?"

Saul had been trying not to think about it actually. The idea that Sirius Black could be innocent had been a shock, but of course, everything that had happened thirteen years ago proved the man's guilt.

Johansson spoke up. "We are aware that you have displayed unknown forms of advanced magic. You could have planted this evidence. The body will be examined by the Department of Mysteries, and they will uncover the truth."

He really didn't want to think that the boy he had searched for all these years was behind the body that had been discovered. And yet the idea that a man had been wrongfully imprisoned in Azkaban's harshest quarter would be a serious blow to the ministry.

"They will tell you exactly what the Magical Examiner told you. That it is the body of Peter Pettigrew. Regardless, I see no point is us wasting each others time. My breakfast was cut short, and lunch is about to start." With that he got up, but before he left, he turned and said, "When you make an assumption in a case, you blind yourself to evidence that you feel you can disregard. I hope your assumption that my godfather is guilty won't blind you to the facts at hand."

Blake spoke up. "Do you really think that he just happened to have the skills to fool the ME? I mean it's not like he could have planned getting dragged here by the Goblet. He and Black have successfully eluded us this whole time, they wouldn't have any reason to risk a stunt like this."

"Then why _did_ this happen now? Sirius Black's godson makes a mysterious appearance at Hogwarts and the body of his victim just happens to show up two days later. No, there's something bigger at play here."

"Like what?"

Johansson mulled things over for a moment. "He said he couldn't have planned this. Yet we still don't know who brought him here or why. According to Black's school records he was a genius with transfiguration. If there was anyone who could fool the ME into thinking that that was Peter Pettigrew it would be him."

"But that would mean he was already here, and that he tricked the cup into grabbing the boy."

"Of course, the boy said it himself, we've been assuming he had nothing to do with the Goblet of Fire, but you were right before. Why, why come back when they were successfully in hiding, and too, why not plant the body of Peter Pettigrew elsewhere in order to avoid suspicion, why have Potter bound to compete in the competition in the first place. Unless," and here he paused. "Unless clearing his name was just a minor point in a larger scheme. A plot that involves the tournament and a recently cleared Sirius Black, godfather to one of the champions."

"The headmasters box!" exclaimed Saul, his stomach plummeting.

Johansson's eyes widened. "During the final task, Fudge, the French Minister, the Bulgarian Minister and the Chairman of the Eastern European Warlock Confederation as well as the Headmasters of Each School and other prominent politicians will be seated in the Headmasters Box. Security would be tight, but it would be a tempting target. Ever since I opened this case, I've kept asking myself: what is he doing, why haven't we seen evidence of his activity, and here's our answer. He's picked up where his master left off. He's been securing some sort of power base for himself, and now he's ready to make his opening move. A recently cleared Sirius Black is in attendance at the Tri-Wizard Tournament to watch his godson compete. There are attendants from all over, the event is broadcast the world over, and then..."

"He blows up the Headmasters Box, a start to his campaign of terror and bid for power," concluded Blake, whose insides had turned cold. Could this really be the answer he had been looking for. "It's still just speculation."

Joe shook his head. "It's the only thing that fits. It explains everything."

Blake got up, "Come on then, this goes way over our pay grade. Let's take this to Bones." As he walked through the Halls of Hogwarts he mulled over what they had concluded. He had often thought of how his mysteries would be solved, about the poor young boy who needed rescuing. Now his mysteries could soon be solved, and they might just end with him arresting the boy he had been searching for all this time. For if they were right, then there was little doubt that the boy would be heavily involved. So as he left to talk to the head of Magical Law Enforcement, he desperately hoped that they were wrong, he hoped that Madame Bones would laugh them out of her office and tell them that they were on a fools trail. But Johansson was right, everything fit with this theory, and the Boy-Who-Disappeared might just be second to a new Dark Lord.

IIIIII

36. 'What spell is most commonly used against a boggart?'

Once more Harry had to skip a question on the test Professor Moody had given him. He looked at the front of the classroom where five older students were furiously countering the spells that Professor Moody was rapidly and randomly shooting at them. Sirius had of course taught him a number of spells that were useful in a battle, everything from destructive spells to self-healing spells, to temporary wards. But Harry had never encountered magical creatures, and he had never had to block anything that wasn't technological in nature. He had never planned on needing any of that knowledge, and he rather hoped that he would be able to leave before he had need of it. Yet here he was, he hadn't survived as long as he had on hopes, it was clear that any of this knowledge could become useful in the future.

37. 'What are the five steps in first level curse detection?'

38. 'Describe the effects and give the incantation for the Sun Burst Hex.'

Harry perked up; the Sun Burst Hex had actually come in handy from time to time. It produced a blinding light for a short period of time that affected everyone except the caster. Writing in the answer he looked up in time to see one of the students get blown back by whatever the professor had been casting. Harry got up in concern, but the boy started to rise as the professor started lecturing him about not holding his wand like he was conducting an orchestra.

An hour later, Harry had finished the test with a half an hour left in the class period, he started paying attention to the lecture in front of him. The first half of the class had been a practical review of the previous section of the class, the Defense against Standard Curses. With that done the professor had started his lecture on facing dark curses. Sirius had always warned him to stay away from the dark arts, of the corrupting effects, though after a few minutes of listening to Professor Moody describe the effects of various dark curses Harry could only imagine that anyone who would cast such curses would already be quite corrupted. He tuned the professor back in.

"These curses all sound horrible, and they are, but like most dark curses, indeed like most of the dark arts, they are difficult to cast on the battle field, and they take more out of the caster than neutral spells. You aren't likely to come across them if you're ever facing an opponent in a duel. These sorts of spells are mostly cast from behind, or when the victims can't defend themselves, it's just too easy for a competent wizard to use that time to cast against the Dark Wizard. Of course there's a trade off, for while these spells are difficult to cast on the battlefield, they are also, often, difficult to block, and if you are ever faced by a sufficiently skilled Dark Wizard, who can cast with speed and power, you're going to need to know when you can block, and when you should just dodge."

Harry listened as the professor outlined the course the next section of the class would take, mentioning different classes of shields and the importance of recognizing curses as they were being cast for counter curses. Harry took notes the whole time, he found the subject fascinating. He recognized most of the shields the Professor mentioned, Sirius had taught him every one he knew. He only wished he could have an opportunity to study the energy that was used to form these curses. Due to the nature of Dark Magic, he didn't think anyone would volunteer to cast it for him unless they were casting it at him. He thought back to the one time he had encountered a Dark Curse, when he had first met Sirius. Unfortunately, he and the Tollans had just started to understand Zero-Point-Energy, and they had not been able to properly analyze the curse before it had been dissipated. Absorbing his nanites back into his Tailor, he got up as the class started to file out.

"That was a fascinating lecture Professor, you take a very practical approach to magic." He handed the professor his test.

"Understanding the theory behind every curse and shield makes for good students, Potter, but dead combatants. An auror needs to recognize and respond, you can't let your brain trip you up in battle."

"I'm curious to know how you will be able to teach students to recognize dark curses; it is not as though you can cast them all yourself, or let the students cast them. I understand they have a heavily corrupting effect on the caster."

The professor nodded, "I certainly won't. The students will be memorizing incantations, common Latin roots, wand patterns, and recognizable visible spell trails. Most shields have a variety of curses that they can block as well as many counter curses, even if you can't recognize the exact curse being sent at you, you can often still block it if you recognize it's class and characteristics based on common roots and patterns."

The professor held up the parchment, "Let's see how you did." He nodded as he perused the parchment. "You're very advanced in some areas, but you're severely lacking in others."

"I was hoping you could point me to a few good books" replied Harry.

"Books will only take you so far, you need practical knowledge and experience. You should start auditing my fifth and sixth year classes." He started writing on a piece of parchment. "Here's what you can read in the meantime." First on the list was a book on dangerous magical creatures, as well as books on dueling and offensive magic.

"How many dangerous magical creatures am I likely to face at this school?" Harry asked, looking at the list.

"A fair few live in the forbidden forest, and just two years ago someone set a basilisk on some of the students. You never know what you might face. Besides, many of the Tournaments in the past have used magical creatures. I'd have thought that you would have started reading up on the Tournament."

"One of many books I have checked out of the library, however, I started with books on Portkeys and magical linking. I still plan to find a way to leave before the tournament."

Moody nodded, "Plan your escape, but plan to compete as well, you must be prepared for everything. Constant vigilance!"

Harry thanked the professor and made his way out, headed for the library. He wondered if there was a limit to how many books he could check out.

IIIIIII

As Harry skimmed the massive tome on magical creatures, he wished that it was a computer file, or better yet, that he could just copy the information from someone's mind. There was just so much knowledge to go through and who knew what would be relevant. On Tollana, when he had been getting a Tollan education, he had found that it was easier to learn by inserting his mind within the documents on a computer, than just straight out reading them. He couldn't quite download the information straight into his brain, but he could go through information much faster and recall it faster that way. But then again, why couldn't he turn the books into computer files. He had done far more complicated things interfacing magic with technology. Closing the book, Harry put it down on the table and held his hands out over the book. Mimicking the energy created by a standard scanner, Harry probed the book, sending the feedback into the hive computer that comprised his Tailor. With a few mental commands the data that represented the physical structure of the book was analyzed, the words were read and a file was created containing the information in the book. Harry smiled. When he had created the Tailor, he had been experimenting with collective processing. There was no single computer that controlled it, each nanite worked together to create the computer that controlled the device. And it had a much greater capacity than what was needed to make his outfits, more than enough to process and store the books. Picking up the next book he repeated the same process until he had scanned all of the books.

Harry turned around when his perimeter scanner alerted him to someone's approach. "It helps if you open the books," said the voice of Collin Creevey. "Reading, you know."

"Yes, I tried that. It was rather slow going though, so I scanned them all into my computer. I can absorb the information better that way."

The boy looked rather skeptical, "I don't see a computer."

Harry smiled, spreading some nanites on the surface of the table, he gave a mental command, and floating above the table, a projection of the words for the first few paragraphs of the Encyclopedia of Curses and their Counters appeared.

Collins eyes went wide. "Wow, that's incredible. Where do I get a computer like that? How does it work around all this magic?"

"You don't, you won't find this level of technology in the muggle world, and it works here because it does not operate using the circuitry that technology you are familiar with uses."

Collin looked disappointed, but all he said next was, "Right then. Say, did you hear what happened this morning?"

Harry had yet to hear what the rumor mill had made of the morning's events and was interested to know what sort of rumors were going around. "Assume that I haven't."

"An Auror took a bunch of Gryffindor fourth years out of class to be questioned, apparently a body was found right where they'd buried Ron Weasleys pet rat. Turns out it was an animagus. Can you imagine, finding out your pet was really a person in disguise?"

"I've never had a pet, though I can imagine it must be rather distressing; to have your companion die, only to find out that it was a person fooling you for any number of reasons. What else are people saying?"

"Actually Dean said that the Auror asked a lot of questions about you. Wanted to know if you had taken any interest in Ron's rat."

Harry frowned; he knew that the Auror who was looking for Sirius thought he was involved somehow. But he had thought that the aurors investigating Pettigrew were at least somewhat convinced.

"How much do you know about the Wizarding legal system? He asked Colin.

Collin looked thoughtful for a moment. "I don't really know, I suppose I've always just assumed it was much the same as the muggle world. I mean the government seems to be structured after the Ministries."

Harry nodded, "Who teaches government?"

Collin looked confused for a moment before, "Oh, like we'd have in muggle schools. I guess we don't have those sorts of classes here. It's all just magic for the most part. Even history of magic, Professor Binns doesn't teach anything that didn't happened before the founding of the Ministry, unless it involves a goblin rebellion."

"So how do you learn about your society, I mean especially since you came from the muggle world."

Coin shrugged, "You just pick it up, I guess. Learn as you go. I'm sure there're books out there if you were really interested."

Harry supposed that he shouldn't be surprised that a society like this would fail to include the structure and function of government in a basic education. He figured that he would have to find books on the government as well.

He wound up talking to Collin about the Wizarding world for a while. He excused himself though, close to dinner, when he saw Cedric Diggory walking toward the exit of the library. He caught up with the boy as he reached the exit.

"Excuse me," he said. "We weren't properly introduced the other night."

The boy looked surprised when he saw Harry. "Oh right, well I'm Cedric, Cedric Diggory. I'm the Hogwarts Champion." He held out his hand.

Harry shook it, "I'm Harry Potter," he said unnecessarily. "Though I'm no ones champion. Actually, that's what I wanted to discuss with you, Friday is the Weighing of the Wands. I think it would be prudent for us to all have a meeting afterwards."

Cedric looked surprised by the proposal, but all he said was, "Sure, I'll let the other Champions know."

They both started walking towards the Great Hall. "Your class was rather interesting this morning."

"I didn't see you there"

"I'd stood at the back of the lecture hall, the other champions did too. I must say though, from the looks they were giving you I rather think that Delacour thought you were a joke. Krum though was sizing you up as an opponent."

"And how did you see me?" Harry asked.

Cedric considered the question a moment before saying, "A mystery. I suppose I haven't decided yet."

Harry nodded and they walked the rest of the way to the great hall in silence. When he got to his seat at the staff table he activated his shield, while keeping a weary eye around him. At lunch, a large amount of what he had determined to be pie filling had fallen on him, seemingly from nowhere, when he had sat down. He had gotten quite used to Sirius' practical jokes, but he was rather determined to avoid a similar event at dinner. But nothing happened when he sat down, waiting a moment, he dropped his shield. Suspiciously, he scanned the area for magic, and scowled when he found that everything was saturated with it, everything was charmed in some way, even the table. It would take a while to determine what might be jinxed. Sighing he reached for the pitcher across from him and filled his goblet. He did everything cautiously, determined that if something did happen, he wouldn't react to it. This was difficult though when he brought his goblet to his lips, and a host of rather large bugs started pouring from the goblet. A quick scan showed it to be just illusion however, and he continued as though nothing had happened, though the sight turned his stomach. He made a show of enjoying his drink. He rather hoped that that would be all for the night, and he wondered if practical jokes were just a wizard thing. Before Hogwarts he had only really known Sirius to play practical jokes. The tricks that the Jaffa had played on him, in the early days of the war against Anubis, had been more like tests. To see what the human child who was teaching them was made of. He added finding the culprit to the list of things he needed to do. He had just started on his food when an owl, the one he had sent, swooped down and left a letter in front of him. He eagerly opened it, hoping for good news from Atlantis.

_Dear Harry,_

_It is important that you know that the man who questioned Jack is back and is currently making his way to where you are. He believes that he will be able to get to you on the third. He is aware of the warning you gave. It looks unlikely though, that he will be able to bring any backup with him._

_Your friends are safe; the attackers were completely destroyed, thanks in no small part to your contributions. They have decided to relocate, and the Libertas made the trip with them. _

_We discussed your situation; while we can think of no way to sever this connection, we believe that if this device were powered enough, it could gain a boost from stellar events, perhaps explaining how it might have reached you. You may recall that my team once traveled very far under similar circumstances. Sam is currently amassing an armada of tracking devices, which will be sent to where you are. If we can't get an exact location, then perhaps we can track them as they make their way to you, getting a general location._

_Good luck,_

_Dr. Daniel Jackson_

Harry sighed when he heard that his godfather was on his way; he supposed that it was too much to expect the man to stay safe on Tollana. Though he was quite glad to hear about Atlantis. Hearing about his ship however gave him an idea. If Sirius could reach him, then why not his ship? He got to work figuring out how he would manage that. With any luck Sirius would get to him tomorrow without being spotted. He'd have to send a letter to Sirius so they could meet in Hogsmead; there was doubt that he would be able to cross over into the castle grounds. With a thought, a powerful but contained flame consumed the parchment, and Harry started in on his dinner.

IIIIIIIIII

Sirius wished that train stations closed at night. He had cast several spells to keep what he was doing private, but he still felt very awkward working with all of these people walking by. He looked at the wall in front of him and pressed his hand against it. It was definitely solid now. There were two options; either the wall was an illusion with a magical barrier that kept people out when it wasn't in use, or a physical wall was made permeable when it was needed. He cast a magical revealing charm on the wall, wishing that he had Harry's abilities.

Early on, after the defeat of Anubis, Harry had worked with the Tollan scientists, delving into how magic worked. Harry seemed to be able to sense and differentiate exotic particles on his own, but when he had tried to teach Sirius it hadn't taken them long to figure out that that wasn't going to happen. But through trial and error, and a lot of experimentation on Harry's part, Sirius had actually come up with a spell that would allow him to see a few of the particles using a number of revealing spells as a base. Creating spells seemed to be a skill of his. It was never enough to do much with, but Harry had taught him the properties of those particles, and Sirius had done some very interesting experiments of his own on Tollana. Luckily though the standard revealing spell he had cast on the wall told him what he needed to know. The wall was an illusion; he just needed to figure out how to get through the wards. Popping the cork on the potion he had bought earlier, he downed it quickly, trying not to gag on it. Ward breaking required deep levels of focus and this was an aid to that. A calm washed over him, all he saw was the task in front of him; he got to work, unable to worry about the rather unpleasant side affects that would wrack him later.

Several hours later, he had broken through. He stepped through the barrier, and with nothing to focus on, the potion started to wear off. He quickly downed the antidote and fell to his knees as tremors started all over his body. He was covered in sweat, dehydrated, and in great need of a loo. But he grinned when he saw the train tracks in front of him, going off into the distance.

IIIIIII

"Don't you see Albus, I don't have a choice," said Amelia Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. "It doesn't matter what the report said, we can't take that chance. We have to act."

"And if an innocent man is sacrificed for your peace of mind?" asked Dumbledore. "On a theory that isn't supported by any evidence, will you take that chance? The top analysts in the Department of Mysteries have concluded that that is the body of Peter Pettigrew, they concur with the ME, there is no actual evidence that Sirius had anything to do with this."

"There may be no evidence, but this idea of Johansson and Saul's fits everything that has happened. Sirius Black was one of the most promising Aurors in the division, until the end. He was highly gifted in Transfiguration, and he had a knack for creating new spells. We still teach some of his tricks at the academy. He is one of the few people I have ever met who could have come close to orchestrating this."

"So you have what the evidence tells you, and what the circumstances suggest, but what do you believe. You worked closely with Sirius' division during the war, you worked with the man yourself, think back, and ask yourself. Do you think he's innocent or guilty?"

Madame Bones opened her mouth to reply but then closed it. She sat down and looked away from the man who had once been her favorite professor, who had no trouble believing in Black's innocence.

"A part of me always wondered; all the evidence at the time was against him, but it was all so sudden. The Potters were dead, and you told us that Sirius had been their Secret Keeper, the next day thirteen people were dead and he was in Azkaban; and yet twenty-four hours earlier he had been a trusted auror, and a staunch enemy of the Dark Arts and blood supremacy. I had always wondered how I could have been so wrong about him, how he could have fooled so many, and we all just invented this character that fit with what had happened. It was unanimously agreed upon that he must have been Voldemort's agent all along, playing one long spy mission, playing his part to perfection. We just explained everything away, just like we are doing now when we say he could have forged the evidence, without even knowing if it would be possible to do so."

She took a moment's pause, and looked back to the Headmaster. "I _think_ that Sirius Black is innocent, I think that Peter Pettigrew faked his death thirteen years ago and framed him, I think we sent an innocent man to Azkaban; this is what I think. However, I _know_ that that cup didn't just decide to grab the boy, on its own. I _know_ that if that body _isn't_ a fake, then someone killed Peter Pettigrew by draining him of his life force, at the exact same time that Potter was brought here. So I also _think_ that some plot is underfoot, and I can't take the chance that what I think of Black is wrong. I have to act as though he is guilty, especially since planning for an attack from Black is the same as planning for an attack from an unknown agent. I have no choice Albus, the Minister has signed the order, they're already on their way; Hogwarts will be guarded by Dementors."


	6. 05 Meetings

Disclaimer: So, I tried to talk to this producer about making Isis Bane into a movie and I was shocked, shocked to find out that I don't own the rights to Harry Potter or Stargate. I'm not even aloud to make a profit off of it.

Closing the curtains around him, Harry got ready for bed, though he was not ready for sleep. Setting his perimeter alarm, he lay back and closed his eyes, inserting his mind into his computer, where the books that he had scanned were stored. He started with the book on magical creatures. He set parameters, and the computer started organizing the data. He then started absorbing it, immersing himself in the data. He cycled through the data a few times, his advanced control over his own body helping him to strengthen the neural pathways to help him with memory recall later. It was all fascinating, but most of the information was of a practical nature, and Harry's inquisitive nature led him to far more questions as to the nature of the magical world.

In that fashion, Harry went through the books he had scanned. The books on dueling held a lot of good information, though some of the tactical ideas were laughable. The books on jinxes and hexes were invaluable. He reached the Encyclopedia of Curses and their Counters last. The book wasn't a how-to for curses. It stopped at giving the reader enough information to recognize the given curses. But it went in depth in describing the nature of every shield, counter curse and block. Harry set his computer to organizing all of the information for efficiency. Curses were grouped together following similar classifications, roots, and counters. As he started going through the information, he was amazed at just how many different ways the wizarding world had created to kill and maim one another; many of them were purely sadistic. Like the books on jinxes and hexes, Harry went over the information several times, he never knew when he would have to recall the information on the fly. As he finished, he pulled his mind out of his computer and checked the time. He'd spent almost two hours going through the process. He'd be doing the same in the coming nights, there were many books that looked interesting, and he had only picked up book one of the Curse Encyclopedia Collection, there being twelve in all.

Before he drifted off into sleep, he reviewed all of his new information on magical linking. He supposed that it would have been unlikely for there to be explicit instructions that would apply to his situation, but he had hoped for some more useful information.

IIIIIII

Waking up the next morning, Harry found a note attached to one of the posts of his bed.

Harry,

Please see me in my office before breakfast.

Dumbledore

Quickly getting ready for the day, Harry made his way to the Headmaster's office. Arriving at the gargoyle that blocked the entrance, he shot himself up to the landing above.

"Headmaster," he greeted the man as he walked in. "What seems to be the matter?"

"The Unspeakables in the Department of Mysteries have finished their analysis of the body found here yesterday. Unofficially, they have concurred with the Magical Examiner, it is indeed the body of Peter Pettigrew." The Headmaster paused.

Harry drew himself up, a dark look coming over him. "Unofficially?"

"The official report released to the Prophet states that their findings were inconclusive."

"Has the minister at least rescinded his death warrant?" Harry asked coldly.

The Headmaster shook his head. "Auror Johansson has a theory that the minister is wont to believe. He has postulated that it was in fact Sirius who brought you here, and planted the body. They believe that the ME's findings are more a testament to your godfathers skills than exculpatory evidence for your Godfather's innocence."

Harry interrupted the Headmaster furiously. "A lack of evidence can't be evidence. What possible reason could we have had to do this, why would I let myself be bound to this tournament, why would Sirius risk exposure?"

"They have not specifically said that you are involved, though they left that to speculation when they informed the public that your Godfather has brainwashed you to believe his innocence. It has been put forward that once cleared, Sirius Black would be in attendance during the final task of the tournament to watch his Godson, as well as several heads of state and others. They believe that this is a part of a large scale assassination attempt, and a part of a larger plan to pick up where Voldemort left off."

Harry felt like banging his head against the headmaster's desk. Instead he just sighed and sat down opposite the Headmaster. "What would it take to convince them otherwise?"

"The Minister of Magic is convinced that there is a plot to kill him underfoot, and he will not be budged. There are however some who believe in your godfather's innocence, or who at least are no longer certain of his guilt. Without the support of the Minister however, there is little that they can do. Unfortunately Harry, the Minister believes that Sirius has been to the castle, and that he may return. He has decided that Dementors will be patrolling outside of the castle walls until the Tournament is over."

Harry had to pause to comprehend what he had just heard. "Is he mad, this is a school, how can he think that subjecting children to the effects of those demons is justified?"

"The dementors who guarded your Godfather will be attuned to his magical signature. He would not be able to pass by them without being discovered. Furthermore, dementors have standing directives to kiss any prisoner who escapes past the walls of Azkaban. The Minister believes that this will be his best chance to be rid of Sirius."

Harry thought back to what he had learned about dementors. As the poltergeist that haunted the castle was a byproduct of the years of magical chaos that surrounded the castle in the form of hundreds of school children, dementors were created during intense times of misery and loss in the wizarding world. For countless eons, dementors had roamed, draining happiness wherever they went, with the same intelligence of a mosquito flying around sucking blood. It hadn't been until a dark wizard had created a magical artifact to control the Dementors that they had been put to a use. It was then that they gained the ability to suck out a person's soul. It hadn't been until the Ministry of Magic had gotten it's hands on the Keys, that the dementors started guarding the wizard prison, making the Keys one of the Ministries most closely guarded relics. Unfortunately, there was no known means to destroy a dementor.

"I need to learn the Patronus Charm," Harry told the headmaster.

Professor Dumbledore nodded. "Remus Lupin will be arriving this afternoon, I'm sure he would like the opportunity to teach you the charm."

"When will the dementors arrive at the castle?" Harry asked.

"This evening shortly before dinner. I will be making the announcement then."

Harry didn't know when Sirius would be arriving; he'd have to send an owl to warn him. It would be best if they met in the village below the castle.

"You said that there were some who do not believe my Godfather is guilty? Can they try to convince others?"

"It would be disadvantageous to do so. I will not tell you who is involved, but certain trusted Aurors have been instructed to capture your godfather without bringing him before the Dementors; he would be taken to a safe house for custody until political matters could be seen to. Revealing their position on the matter now would likely see them removed from their positions among those overseeing the guard on Hogwarts."

Harry frowned, he did not like that he had no way to verify anything that the Headmaster had told him, about anything.

"I have given thought to the nature of Peter Pettigrew's death," announced the headmaster.

"You believe that someone used his life-force to augment the power of the Portkey?"

The headmaster nodded.

"Why was everyone so upset about the nature of his death? It's odd, but murder is murder, and what does the soul have to do with it."

The Headmaster looked grave. "A person's life force is surrounded by their soul. To access it, one must remove or destroy the soul. This requires dark magic of the highest order to perform, magic so corrupting that I doubt that even Voldemort would consider it. That is why, though it has been speculated that a person's life force could be used to augment the power of a Portkey, it has never before been attempted. The last time a dark wizard is known to have harvested other's life forces, it was part of raising a large army of inferi. He quickly became so paranoid that he killed all of his supporters and died of starvation, thinking that all food he encountered was poisoned.

"Now, however Mr. Pettigrew was killed, the killer somehow got around the soul, allowing him to harvest the energy without the corrupting effects. It was of course still dark magic, merely of a lesser order."

"I don't understand," said Harry, "wouldn't a person be able to remove a person's soul with a dementor, thereby bypassing this effect?"

"One could, but the process would taint the life force, making it useless for all but the most mundane tasks."

Harry couldn't help but shudder slightly at the very morbid nature of their conversation." Do you have any theories?

"Since it would appear that Peter was working for Voldemort, it is likely that he was given the Dark Mark, which would have linked him to Voldemort. Since it is also likely that Voldemort is behind your abduction, it would be reasonable to believe that the link was used both to find Pettigrew and to access his life force. If this is even possible, I do not know, but it is my only likely theory. Unless I could believe that he would have willingly sacrificed his life to bring you here."

Harry silently agreed with the headmaster, he doubted that the man who had killed twelve people in order to fake his own death would willingly sacrifice himself for anything. Harry stood up.

"I should go; I have an errand to run before breakfast."

"You should know that the Dementors will approach the grounds from the southwest."

Harry wondered if the Headmaster was just guessing, or if he had some means to monitor the communications between him and Sirius. Harry nodded and made his way out, his first stop the owlery, before making his way to breakfast.

Harry searched proficiently for a magical trap before sitting down at the dining table, all the while seeming to be talking to Professor Sinistra about astral charting. Finding nothing he hadn't sensed the night before, except for what appeared to be a preservation charm along the entire table, he thought that perhaps the prankster had decided to move on to another target. Until he picked up his goblet and found that he couldn't put it down again. Closer examination showed that his silverware as well had been coated with a clear adhesive. Harry smiled, and chastised himself for looking only for magical tampering. Constant vigilance. Harry quickly broke the ionic bonds that connected his hand to the goblet and magically cleaned everything before starting in, quickly scanning the table and it's contents for any other strange chemicals.

Midway through breakfast though, the mail arrived. It didn't take long for the students who received the Prophet to start giving him looks while talking with their friends. Harry wondered what the paper was saying about him.

When he saw a group of first year Ravenclaws break off and head to the dungeons, he got up and followed them. Sirius had described potions and a few of the concepts behind them, but they had never had access to ingredients, so Sirius had never made much bother with the subject. Yet now he was here, perhaps he could learn something useful. He hoped that Professor Snape's teaching persona was less hostile than what he had seen so far of the man.

Following the students into a classroom, Harry quietly made his way to the back, where he stood with his back against the wall. There were several Hufflepuffs already seated at worktables. He didn't have to wait long before Professor Snape walked in. Foregoing any greeting the professor walked to the front of the classroom and waved his wand. The class groaned as pieces of parchment appeared in front of each student. Harry looked down at the table in front of him and saw what looked like a quiz of some sort. Perusing the questions, Harry was unsurprised to find that he couldn't answer any of the questions. Ten minutes later Professor Snape rose and all of a sudden the quizzes disappeared, reappearing on the professor's desk. The man briefly thumbed through the quizzes, making comments along the way.

"Miss Fields," a girl cringed in the second row, "if I were to brew the Eagle's Eye Elixir with the ingredients you listed, it would blind anyone who ingested it. I want a two foot paper on the difference between dragon claws and dragon teeth in potions making by next class."

The professor went on, and three other students found themselves with extra homework. Without further ado Professor Snape started lecturing on the uses of unicorn tail in potions, and it's reactions to common ingredients. At the end of the lecture, instructions appeared on the board and the students started preparing Calming Drafts. Harry observed as the students started measuring and chopping and stirring various ingredients into their cauldrons. Professor Snape walked among the students, his eyes seeming to look everywhere at once, snapping corrections at students along the way. As he passed one boy's cauldron he waved his wand and the contents disappeared.

"Start over Mr. Dean, and this time, if you will please, read the instructions and stir counterclockwise after you add the beetles eye, unless you want to clean the resulting mess off my walls with your toothbrush."

One melted cauldron and three eruptions later, the class was over and the students and professor Snape all looked like they could do with the calming drafts they had been making. Though judging by the varied results, Harry didn't think he would be trying any of them any time soon.

As the slightly shell shocked class filed out, Harry approached the professor. Their earlier interactions had been hostile, but Harry was determined to remain civil.

"Good morning Professor Snape," he greeted with a smile. "I've been wanting to learn about potions making for a while. Your lecture was quite interesting."

"Potter," the Professor responded coldly. "What do you want?"

Harry got the distinct impression that the man did in fact detest him.

"I'm hoping to learn a bit of the art of Potions Making, I should like to audit some of your first year classes, for now. I see a wide variety of uses for this branch of magic, and I would like to study it." He said it with a friendly smile.

"I teach students of this school, Mr. Potter, students who are enrolled in this school. Since you feel that you are above such a classification, I see no reason to put up with your presence in my class."

Harry wondered where the man's hostility was coming from; their earlier encounters did not justify this level of animosity. Still, he kept his demeanor friendly.

"I am not enrolled, no. However I have long thought of myself as a student. I do not like to pass up an opportunity to learn from another."

"Regardless, I will not teach you," he said emphatically, slightly over enunciating the last five words.

Harry could almost think that the man enjoyed saying that. This time, keeping a friendly demeanor was more to deny the man the satisfaction of seeing his disappointment than the hope that he could smooth over their earlier encounters.

"Oh well, I suppose I'll have to make do with library study. I should be off, enjoy your day Professor," he said, leaving the classroom disappointed.

IIIIIIIIII

Making his way to the library, Harry was interrupted by an owl that swooped down and landed on his shoulder. Relieved of it's note the bird flew out of a nearby window. The message was short, 'In the Village' was all it said. Looking around for any observers, Harry transformed into a falcon and flew out the same window as the owl before him. Flying to the front gates he made sure to stay over the Hogsmead road as he flew to the village below. Circling over the structures below it didn't take long for Harry to spot Sirius, or rather the large black dog chasing squirrels in a small park near the edge of the village. Landing behind some bushes, he transformed and whistled. Sirius looked up at him, and in a moment he had bounded over and pounced on Harry, looking very happy to see him. After his perfunctory over excited dog behavior, Sirius led him to a shed on the outskirts of the village that looked fairly dilapidated. Once they entered, Harry set up a barrier that would stop any sound from escaping while Sirius transformed back into himself. He quickly set up a few privacy wards of his own.

"Are you sure we won't be disturbed here," Harry asked, as Sirius gave him big hug.

Sirius shrugged, "I sniffed around, no one's been in here for a long time." Sirius cast a spell, and two large chairs popped out of nowhere. "So tell me everything that's been happening," he said, sitting down. "Why are dementors on their way?"

Harry sighed, and explained about Peter Pettigrew's body popping out of the ground, and the Ministry's insane reaction.

"It's a cover up. They can't accept that you're innocent, so they'd rather believe this crazy theory that you're planning a massive assassination, and they're quashing the reports that prove your innocence."

For a brief moment Sirius had looked relieved when Harry had told him about the body of the man who had framed him, but he kept looking grimmer as the tale continued.

"Have there been any indications who's behind this?" Sirius asked.

Harry shook his head, "Professor Dumbledore believes that Pettigrew was working for some Dark Lord who wants to kill me, but other than that there haven't been any indications of who might be his agent inside the castle. We still can't say for sure why I've been brought here. I mean this is a rather elaborate plot if it's just a revenge plan to kill me."

Sirius nodded, "Right, so how am I sneaking into the castle."

"You aren't," Harry said. "How easily can you get between here and the SGC?"

"Harry, your stuck in unknown territory, with a hidden enemy who's most likely trying to kill you. You need someone to watch your back."

"You have a death warrant out on you. The Dementors that will be arriving this evening will be able to recognize your magical signature, and they'll suck your soul out on site. No one's tried anything yet, and I need supplies. While you're gone, I'll try to figure out where it'll be safe to meet with Dementors floating around. Don't come back until I've owled you with the information."

Sirius looked like he wanted to press the point, but all he said was, "The trackers they sent with me stopped getting through to the satellites about ten miles from here. I can apparate back there and get beamed to the SGC. Getting back should be much easier than the first time."

"Good, I'm going to need three computer crystals, a reconnaissance drone, and a subspace particle scanner from Tollana."

"What's your plan?"

"I think the link with the cup is through subspace, so if I'm going to figure out how to break it, I'm going to need the scanner to get an idea of what I'm working with. The crystals though are what your going to need in order to get my ship to Earth, the Tollans can get their gate to establish a connection with Pegasus, I'll program the crystals to get you on board and on your way to earth. While your gone I'll try to figure a way to deal with these dementors."

"Alright, but Harry, you need to watch your back while I'm gone. It isn't just whoever brought you here. The other champions and their supporters are going to see you as competition. I doubt any of them are going to play fair."

Harry recalled from one of the books on the tournament that there had been many instances in the past of sabotage.

"Could you bring others here?"

Sirius shook his head, "I've already identified some of the charms on the area, I could get people here, but they wouldn't be able to see anything but a deserted countryside, and they'd all become convinced that they needed to be somewhere else."

Harry shrugged. It didn't matter; He'd always worked well alone. "So," he said to Sirius. "What have I been missing on Tollana?"

For a while longer they talked, it had been a while since they had last seen each other, and they tried to do as much catching up as they could.

IIIIIII

Landing back at the castle, Harry was disappointed to note that he had missed lunch. He walked to the library in silence; everyone was in class. Gathering books on curses, potions, charms, and the Ministry, he sat down and started scanning. He had gotten through about half of them when his perimeter alarm alerted him to two approaching people behind him. Turning around he saw Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger coming near his table.

"Mind if we join you?" the girl asked hesitantly. She looked conflicted, while her companion wore unveiled unease and suspicion like a cloak.

"Certainly," said Harry. "Did you have more questions about my class? I'm certainly happy to have eager students." He rather doubted that that was what had brought the two teens to his table.

Hermione momentarily looked distracted by the prospect of being able to ask him more questions about his class. Ron however was not distracted. "Why did the Aurors think you had something to do with Scabbers turning into a man?" he demanded.

"A multitude of reasons actually," responded Harry plainly. "The Magical Examiner concluded that the body of a dead animagus popped out of the ground right where you buried Scabbers. Testing proved that his name was Peter Pettigrew, the man my Godfather was accused of killing thirteen years ago. Testing revealed that he had died at the exact moment that I was brought here by the cup, killed when his life force was drained. Between that and the fact that I staunchly support my godfathers innocence, the investigating aurors seem to believe that I'm involved."

"The Prophet said that your godfather brought you here and planted the body. The Ministry said that the body could have been a fake," put in Hermione.

"The Ministry also refuses to believe that a man who's supposed crimes were never properly investigated, who was sent to prison without a trial, could be innocent. They can't cover up the fact that a body was found at the school, so they turn it around to make evidence that proves his innocence, look like evidence that supports his guilt. Other than that, all they have is conjecture. I can personally attest that my Godfather was very far away from here when the cup grabbed me and brought me here, and had been for some time."

"What do you mean he didn't get a trial," asked a horrified Hermione.

Harry gave her a wry smile. "According to one of the aurors I met yesterday 'A trial is just a formality when guilt is certain, a formality we didn't have time for thirteen years ago when Death Eaters like him had torn this country apart.' Your society may have laws concerning the ethical treatment of accused criminals, but laws mean nothing when a society collectively ignores them. Besides, is it really all that surprising? The Ministry of Magic uses torture as a means of preventing the escape of prisoners, ignoring due process isn't all that far off."

Hermione looked like she wanted to discuss the matter further, but Ron broke in. "Scabbers couldn't have been an animagus, he's been in the family since I was a baby."

"What," said Harry, "roughly thirteen years ago, was it? Maybe just a few days after the fall of Voldemort, when Peter Pettigrew faked his death. How long do rats normally live, maybe three or four years?"

"We took really good care of him, besides I would have known if he was a human."

"And that's the crux of it entirely. People are very good at explaining away anything that doesn't fit in with their conception of the universe. We see what we expect to see. Scabbers lived far longer than any rat would, so you explain to yourself that it is due to the care you've given him. He behaves uncharacteristically of a rat, and you make an excuse for how it's really normal and you forget about it. The Ministry is doing it right now, there's evidence that Sirius Black is innocent, so they explain it away to make it look like he isn't, so that it fits with their image of a murderous traitor."

Ron slumped down in his chair dejectedly, and Hermione looked like she wanted to say something to him, but didn't know what. She looked at Harry instead.

"So who killed him? Why?"

Harry shrugged. "Professor Dumbledore thinks that someone used his life force to augment the power of the Goblet of Fire so that it could reach me. As to who did it, who can say?"

By this point though Ron seemed to have stopped registering the conversation. Harry didn't know how to deal with moody teenagers, but Hermione, noticing Ron's demeanor, nudged him with her elbow and reminded him that some of his friends had gone flying. Together they got up and left for the school grounds. Harry briefly considered following them, he'd always wanted to fly on a broom, but looking down at all of the books in front of him, he decided to stay and finish. There was so much information for him to go through, all of it could prove useful.

IIIIIII

An hour later he had scanned all of the books that he had gotten down. Deciding to see if the Gryffindors were still flying, Harry got up and left the library. He was about to exit the castle though when an origami crane flew up to him and started circling his head, plucking it out of the air it started unfolding itself and Harry read the message inside.

Harry

Please meet me in my office at your earliest convenience.

Dumbledore

The headmaster had said that Lupin would be arriving today. When he arrived at the Headmaster's office he was unsurprised to see the man who's face had been captured years before by General Hammond's security camera.

"Professor," he greeted.

"Harry, I'd like to introduce you to Remus Lupin. Remus, this is Harry Potter."

"I understand we've met before," Harry said, shaking the man's hand.

"Yes, though the last time I saw you, you were just starting to stand on your own. Now look at you." The man seemed to be trying to see what he remembered of the toddler in Harry, he shook his head, grinning. "You look just like your father."

Harry wasn't sure how to respond to that.

"Perhaps we should take this elsewhere. Would you like to join me on the grounds," suggested the man.

"Sure," replied Harry.

They bid the Headmaster farewell and walked out of the castle in silence. Harry found himself with more questions than he could keep track of. Once more he felt a need to connect with his past that he tried unsuccessfully to quash, so he diverted his thoughts instead.

"Have you really been searching for me this whole time?" he asked the man.

"I have," he responded. He looked at Harry. "Your parents meant the world to me. I watched you grow up when you were an infant. I lost everything by the end of the war, everyone I cared about. When you disappeared, I felt as though the last connection to my past had been ripped away, and I swore to myself I'd find you."

"What were you finding in Peru?" Harry asked, once more redirecting away from thoughts about his parents. Though he was dying to learn more about his Godfather.

"An acquaintance of mine had been studying the magics used by ancient warlocks in the area. He found old carvings that spoke of the gods descending from the sky in pyramids to take the favored few to live among the 'Chosen.' I'd just found an ancient temple, dedicated to one of these gods when I received Albus' owl. Before that I'd been all throughout the middle east and India finding similar writings from about the same time period." He gave Harry a questioning look, and Harry was sure the man was looking for some sort of sign from Harry that he had been on the right track.

"I must say that you got very far along in your search. But you could never have gotten far enough."

"Not without my own spaceship?" Remus asked, and Harry shrugged with a smile. "Sirius managed somehow."

"Unfortunately, no one really knows quite how he managed to do it. All I know, is that he infiltrated Russia before accessing the means to get to me."

Remus stopped in his tracks and looked searchingly at Harry, "He truly has no memory? It's all gone?" He looked miserable at the prospect.

"We showed him your picture once, to see if the image held an emotional valence to him. He didn't recognize you of course, but he said your image made him feel wistful." Harry shrugged. "The Headmaster told you about Pettigrew?" he asked, and Remus nodded looking miserable. Harry had no idea what to say to the man who had believed the worst of one of his best friends. Though he supposed that to believe otherwise would have been to think the worst of another such friend. He changed the subject. "Will you continue searching for me when I leave again?" he asked.

"We can't convince you to stay?"

Harry smiled, "As tempting as that library is, I have important work to do elsewhere."

Remus frowned, "Will you be safe?"

"Safer than I am here you mean? I suppose that that's a toss up."

"Albus tells me you spoke of needing to be in a battle. Sirius let's you participate in space battles?"

Harry laughed, "It was a rough time for him when he realized he couldn't stop me. In the end he decided to just teach me magic so I'd stand a better chance. So how did you come to be friends with Sirius?"

Remus paused for a moment. "We all shared a dorm together throughout Hogwarts. We met on that first day, your father, Peter, Sirius, and I. We were eleven and off on our own for the first time in our lives, we became fast friends, all of us from the word go. We did everything together, had adventures together, got in trouble together."

"Has he always loved pranks so much?" asked Harry with curiosity.

Remus laughed, "Half of the learning he did in school was so that he could pull off various pranks. We were quite notorious at the time; we called ourselves the Marauders. I take it he has not lost his love of the practical joke."

"Not at all, and it's only worse when I've been away for a while, he has too much time to think up bigger plans." It was time to get some needed information; he changed the track of the conversation. "Was Peter Pettigrew a rat animagus?"

"The Headmaster has already asked me that, he was. I was provided with a picture of Ronald Weasley's rat and I recognized it as him."

"I hope you'll tell the boy that," said Harry thinking of the conversation he had had with the boy earlier. He was clearly in need of some form of closure. "I understand it is a rare talent, the animagus transformation." Harry said casually. "I suppose he must have had a lot of help from his teachers."

Remus chuckled, "He didn't get any help from his teachers, he got help from his friends." He frowned, "You want to know if I know that Sirius is a dog animagus."

Harry shrugged, "I can't actually trust that you are who you say you are, nor can I trust that you believe in his innocence. I'd like to though. It would have been easier if no one knew about that though."

"Is Sirius here?"

"Would you believe me if I said he wasn't?"

Remus sighed, "Would you believe me if I told you that to my knowledge, no one else knows about Sirius being an animagus, it was our most closely guarded secret, in part because they were unregistered."

Harry shook his head, "Were you all animagus? What's your animal form?"

"No, I was unable to make the transformation. Your father was though; he was a great big stag."

They talked a while longer, and Harry enjoyed hearing about his godfather's carefree time as a student. Remus avoided talking about Peter, and Harry made sure to keep the topics away from his parents. He didn't feel ready to go into that; why should he augment his loss by quantifying it.

They walked back to the castle just before dinner started. Before they entered the Great Hall though, Remus stopped short. "Will you ever tell us where you've been, what you've done?"

Harry sighed; he wished he could give the man the answers he had been searching for all these years.

"That won't be my decision, but some day it may become common knowledge. I can't say when, but I must say that I firmly believe that the magical world is not ready for such information. Your people cloister themselves in the past, you fear the truth, and you shun progress. Your history is filled with the same wars, started by the same thing, over and over again. Frankly, I fear what might happen when you do find out."

The man actually laughed at that, "I think you will find that there are many in the minority who would agree with you." He looked down, "I suppose you wouldn't trust me to keep it to myself."

"It is simply a matter of it not being my secret alone."

The man shrugged and smiled, "Come on then, it's been a while since I've had a good Hogwarts dinner."

Dinner though, was not the peaceful affair that Remus had perhaps hoped. As the meal was winding down, the Headmaster stood up and announced the Dementors arrival. It was not till then that the doors to the great hall opened, and two aurors escorted by Professor Moody strode in. The headmaster cleared his throat.

"As we are all here, Aurors Tate and Lyle will be confirming the identity of everyone in this room, during which their fellow aurors will search the castle while we remain in here, as well, the grounds will be swept by dementors. The spell that they will use to check you is not unpleasant, and will be done quickly. Now, do not fear that you will lack for entertainment while we wait for the search to be complete." Harry was very glad that he had sent Sirius away.

The testing was done quickly, first all of the teachers and staff, then all of the students by house and by year. While they waited for the search of the castle to be completed some of the professors did demonstrations for the students to pass the time. Professor Flitwick performed various complex charms, and at one point had all of the candles in the hall doing a complex dance that quite impressed Harry. Professor McGonagall performed several complex transfigurations until some students started calling for the Headmaster to join her in a transfiguration duel. The headmaster rose to the occasion, and Harry's eyebrows rose as the two professors faced each other and bowed. He supposed that it was a type of battle, only they never shot spells at each other. The display consisted entirely of the two professors transfiguring objects in their vicinity to act against the other, and countering each other's spells. Harry was quite impressed with their skill and speed. At one point Professor Dumbledore turned the stone beneath the other professor's feet to pool up and form a hand that grabbed her around the middle, which she countered by turning the stone to water, which quickly covered the floor; another wave of her wand and the entire floor was covered in ice. The headmaster laughed at this and turned his boots into skates, while he turned the candles floating over the head of professor McGonagall into nets that fell down upon her. The battle did not end for a while longer, when Professor Dumbledore transfigured the air around professor McGonagall into what Harry assumed was nitrous oxide. The professor sat down dropping her wand, laughing all the while in concert with her students. A wave of his wand, and the air cleared, another and the professor stopped laughing and stood up brushing herself off. The two educators bowed to each other once more. Professor Dumbledore had just started the students in a sing along when the doors opened and the aurors who had been searching the castle entered the Great Hall. The search done, the headmaster made one last announcement, all joviality gone from his voice.

"It is important that you all know that the dementors will be patrolling Hogwarts border until the end of the tournament. Dementors are dangerous magical creatures and it is important that you do not try to pass by them. They feel no pity, and they do not understand excuses. They do not rely on sight; you cannot sneak past them. It is more important than ever that every student stays within bounds."

As the students filed out for bed, Harry approached the Headmaster.

"Harry, how was your talk with Mr. Lupin?"

"It was nice, he had some fun stories from his time with Sirius when they were students. He promised to teach me the Patronus charm." He paused. "I need to see these dementors."

"Harry, I assure you, we will be doing everything in our power to keep everyone safe from the dementors. Do not worry yourself on it."

Harry shook his head. "I need to be able to tell Sirius's Healers more about what he was subjected to in the past. I should also like to experience them for myself."

The headmaster nodded. "I shall take you tomorrow, before breakfast."

Harry thanked him and went to his dorm, stopping by the library to get a book suggested by Remus.

IIIIIIII

That night, Harry cycled through all of the new information he had scanned in the library. By the end, he had discovered several new topics he needed to look up. He couldn't wait till Sirius brought the reconnaissance drone. Thinking about Sirius he frowned. From what he had learned about dementors, and what he knew about the animagus transformation, it was reasonable to believe that Sirius had gotten past the dementors by using his animagus form. If that were the case, then it was likely that Lupin had been telling the truth when he had said that no one else knew about Sirius' ability. He only wished he could trust that completely. Sirius would be finishing up with his task soon, and Harry needed to do some reconnaissance before his godfather could return.

IIIIIIII

The next morning dawned with the sun shining through the window, and Harry made his way quickly to the Headmaster's office. The two of them exited the castle and Harry shot the both of them a short distance from the main gate of the castle. The man put a hand on Harry's shoulder to stop him.

"Harry, before we go further I must have your promise that you will do as I instruct you until we are away from the gates, I can not stress how dangerous these creatures are."

Harry nodded, and the man conjured a Patronus, Harry recognized its shape to be a phoenix, like the magical bird that occupied the man's office. The professor kept the power behind the Patronus weak so as not to drive the dementors away. Together they approached the gates, and in spite of the magical protection, Harry started to feel the effects. A mild apathy overtook him, suddenly he felt very alone and cold, it was as though the bright sunny morning had just dimmed to twilight.

"If you wish to feel the full effect, you can step past my Patronus, but you must not go further."

Harry walked forward, determined. His vision dimmed further, and he found himself severely depressed. All he could remember was sorrow and grief, he looked up at the dementor, and he felt unable to do anything but to stare. Unbidden memories started to well up, memories he had tried to lay to rest. Jeorg's neck snapped in his hand, as he looked on in impotent horror, Colonol Everet gave the command for the F-302 pilots he couldn't save to self destruct, he was surrounded by the sick on Riash, all dying of a hemorrhagic fever he had not been able to treat in time, the children he had found on the wraith hive ship, their lives sucked out of them, their faces frozen in horror, time and again he killed Jaffa in battle, killed them by the score, good men who were fighting for their gods. He was surrounded by the dead, and the dying, those he had killed and those he couldn't save, and they all stared at him with accusation in their eyes. He was a failure, a killer, he was lost and alone, he was in the cupboard under the stairs and the door slammed in his face, the grill snapped shut. He was powerless, and helpless, and he watched in horror as his body committed a thousand atrocities he couldn't stop. A deep pain welled up in his chest and he threw back his head and screamed, an inhuman wail that left his throat raw. Suddenly it stopped, and his scream died off and he sat there on the ground, the images still propagating in his head. He looked in front of him and saw the Headmaster's Patronus between him and the dementors. The dementors had backed off; he shuddered at the look of them, as though they were looking at him hungrily. He felt like curling up into a ball and never facing the universe again, he felt like he had lost a part of himself that he would never find again. He stood up, back straight, and the Headmaster handed him a piece of dark chocolate that he started gnawing on.

"We can leave when you are ready," the headmaster said gently.

Harry nodded, he held out his hands to the dementors, and started scanning as well as he could without any equipment, he tried to analyze his own mind, noting the biochemical changes that had occurred. Unable to even think about going over the data he stored it all in his computer. He continued gnawing on the chocolate as he and the Headmaster made their way up to the castle for breakfast. Harry wasn't in any shape to be shooting himself anywhere.

On their way back to the castle, Harry quietly spoke up. "I will do your world a great service," he said, "I will destroy the dementors of Azkaban."

The Headmaster said nothing to this; he merely hummed, as though Harry had not just made an implied declaration of war against the Ministry.

After his meal Harry started his write up on his experience, while he waited for the start of the Ceremony that morning. He tried to be as clinical as he could be in his documentation, avoiding thinking about the images that still floated around in his head. He went out to the grounds outside and went through his exercises, clearing his mind as Sirius had taught him as he focused solely on the movements of his body, one form flowing into another. When he felt that he was ready he made his way to the room where the Weighing of the Wand was to be performed. He found the Champions there with a woman and a man that were obviously with the media. The flash of the camera in the man's hand went off as he walked in.

"Ah yes, and Harry Potter, at last, at last the wizarding world can get a few words from the mystery champion. My name is Rita Skeeter, I'm with the Daily Prophet. My readers have been dying for more information about you. What do you say to a quick interview? You can't keep yourself from the public now."

Harry had not been expecting any reporters, and a 'no comment' was on the tip of his tongue, when he had an idea.

"Why of course, Miss Skeeter, why don't we step over here, I have a proposition for you."

The woman smiled effusively at him as they walked over to a corner of the room. "Now Harry, why don't we start..."

But Harry held up his hand to stop her. "You want to write about where I've been these past few years, or you want to write about how I'm a confused child hoodwinked by his wicked Godfather. I can't answer the first part, and I have no intention of helping you write the second, but I can give you a story that your readers will find very interesting."

She gave him a calculating look and an intrigued smile. "And just what might that be?" she asked.

"The ministry's manipulation of facts, used to deny a man who was imprisoned without an investigation or a trial of the very evidence that proves him innocent."

Skeeter laughed, "You _must_ be confunded if you expect me to write about that. My readers would never believe it."

"I'll stick to simple verifiable facts, and if you do this, I'll give you my word that I won't deal with any reporter other than you. Or, I can find another reporter, at another paper and never speak with you again, the choice is yours."

Skeeter chewed on her lip, her eyes narrowed at his threat. Then her face was back to her effusive smile and she said, "Why Mr. Potter, I do believe that I would be delighted to tell the world your story."

At that moment the door opened and the three Headmasters walked in, as well as Ludo Bagman and a short man with wide eyes that seemed to look beyond whatever he was looking at, Harry supposed that he was the wand expert.

The man, his name was Olivander, went to the champions and inspected each wand, performing various spells with each, commenting aloud while he worked. When he got to Harry he pulled out a small box from his coat and tapped it with his wand to enlarge it. He pulled out a tape measure, which started measuring Harry on its own. While Harry was wondering what the height of his ears had to do with anything, the man's eyes seemed to be trying to bore through Harry's skull, and at last he started speaking to him.

"There are many factors, Mr. Potter, that govern the compatibility of wand and caster. But ultimately, it is the wand that chooses the wizard." He held out his hand and the tape measure folded itself up in his hand. He reached his arm into the box, further, it seemed than the box should have allowed, and pulled out a box with a wand in it. He handed it to Harry, who had not held it for more than a second when it was swapped for another, and another, and another. The process continued while the man continued to search through his magical box at times reaching past his shoulder into the box to grab a wand. Harry wondered what all the measuring had been for if he seemed to be testing wands at random, each one completely different from the last. After what seemed like half an hour, the man gave Harry a shrewd look, with his too large eyes, and pulled out a wand from the box that he hesitantly gave Harry. Instantly, Harry could feel the difference, as brightly colored sparks shot out of the tip of the wand, he felt a warmth rush up his arm and send a jolt through his spine.

"Oh, jolly good," cried Bagman, as the photographer's camera went off.

But Olivander was giving him a look, "Curious," he said. "Holly and Phoenix feather, eleven inches Mr. Potter. I remember every wand I have ever sold, and it is curious indeed that..."

"Thank you, Mr. Olivander, but some of these students must get back to their classes, and we have promised the Prophet a group shot of the Champions." The Headmasters voice rang out, interrupting the old man. Olivander, for his part, seemed to be surprised to find that there were others in the room besides himself and Harry.

"Yes, yes of course, how I do go on." He shrunk his box and walked over to wait next to Bagman.

Harry though was very curious to know what Olivander had been about to say, and it was not lost upon Harry that the Headmaster did not want it to be said aloud to the room at large. He certainly noticed the predatory look in Skeeter's eye as she looked at the old wand maker.

After the photographs were taken the champions waited for the adults to leave, though not before Harry set up a meeting with the reporter, before they started their meeting.

"So," said Viktor Krum, "Vy do you vish to talk vith us." He was standing with his arms folded over his chest, one hand close to a pocket on his robes where Harry suspected he kept his wand.

"I wanted to clear the air between us. I'm sure that you all must be concerned about how this tournament has unfolded. I know you weren't expecting me to show up, and I wanted to properly meet all of you. I wanted to make one thing clear though. I didn't sign up for this tournament, and I have no interest in competing, and none whatsoever in winning. I intend to leave here as soon as possible, and failing that, I seek only to complete each task as quickly as possible to minimize my risk. If I happen to win as a consequence, well it won't matter to me."

"If you happen to win?" said Fleur Delacour, amused. "You are fourteen, what chance do you 'ave to win. You are not even a real champion, Beauxbaton weel win zees championship."

"Do you seriously still see this as a championship? Stop for a moment and look at what's in front of you. This is a conspiracy, a conspiracy that involves this tournament, and therefore all of you, a conspiracy that has already killed a man. The person behind it obviously has no concern for anyone's safety, so you should assume that you are all expendable in his eyes. You all signed your lives away for honor and glory. But if you have any honor then you will forget that this is a game, and remember that anyone in this room could be dead by the end of this tournament."

"What do you propose?" asked Cedric.

"We should work together."

Fleur scoffed, "Your own Ministry tells us zat eet is your own godfather who is behind zis, if not you too. Why should we work wiz you."

"First of all," said Harry, "It's not my ministry. Second, it is true you have no reason to trust me, though you also have no reason to trust the Ministry. But what I am asking of you cannot compromise you. You are all involved in the tournament, if you see or hear anything, you tell all of us. We all work together to make sure we are prepared for the tasks; we share with each other. Quid Pro Quo, this isn't about winning, it's about surviving. Now if I find a way out, you can all go back to fighting for the top, but in the meantime, we need to work to uncover whatever has been planned."

The three Champions stared at him, "I'm in," said Cedric. Krum just nodded. They all looked at Fleur who was looking at Harry mysteriously.

"Eef 'e was only a leetle bit taller," she murmured to herself. Harry's eyebrows shot up, and Cedric gave a hearty laugh, while Krum just shook his head. "Very well, we weel do this. But I weel be watching you as well, you weel not be pleased if I find zat you 'ave been playing us for fools."

They continued talking and planning, none of them noticing the beetle that had crawled under the door.

IIIIIII

"How did the sweep at the Ministry go," Albus Dumbledore asked the ashen-faced Madam Bones. They had not met so often since the previous war, twice in as many days. Amelia was reminded of her life during those years, and she gravely hoped that another war could be stopped before it had begun.

"Crouch is dead, a few months it looks like. We've been working with an imposter this whole time. But you'll never guess who was behind the Polyjuice."

"Bertha Jorkins?" asked the headmaster.

Amelia scowled at him, whenever she thought she could surprise the old warlock, he turned the tables on her. "Yes, though she's not really there anymore. She's been heavily Imperiused; her mind had been destroyed. The caster put a complex illusion over her eyes to make them look... alive."

"Do you have any suspects?" asked the headmaster.

"His house elf," Amelia spat out.

"Indeed," said the headmaster. "Perhaps you should start at the beginning."

"After we discovered the imposter, aurors went to his home. They found Crouch's body; he'd been poisoned. His elf was kind enough to leave a note explaining that the 'medication' she had given her master had killed him, before she drank it herself. We believe that she was under the Imperius curse as well. Now how did you know about Bertha?"

"It was a reasonable deduction, she disappeared a few months ago, while on vacation in an area that we've believed Voldemort has been hiding. I take it that there was nothing left for you to glean from her mind."

Amelia shook her head, "Of course this means there is still someone out there, someone who was able to access the cup. With her mind so far gone, there would have been no way for her to have confunded the cup, even under the Imperius Curse."

"Yes, but that just leaves us where we started, the new question in front of us though is perhaps the most important."

"And what's that?"

"Why kill Barty, and why replace him, if the imposter was not the one to jinx the cup. It serves no purpose, and only serves as an area where they can be exposed."

Amelia looked thoughtful, "Perhaps Crouch stumbled on something, so they killed him for it, and then they replaced him so we wouldn't grow suspicious."

"Or there was another task better suited for a Crouch impersonator."

"Then we must discover what he may have learned, or what the imposter might have done. Comb through everything he was doing in the days before his death and after."

Amelia nodded. "We're still no closer to discovering who jinxed the cup though." She sighed, "I was glad to see that Sirius Black didn't turn up in the sweep of Hogwarts. You aren't hiding him somewhere are you?"

"Why, my dear Amelia, would you want to know if I were?"

The Head of Magical Law Enforcement laughed at the situation she had found herself in and just shook her head.

"I do believe that he knows to keep his distance, though from what Mr. Potter has told me, he will not do so if he believes Harry needs to be rescued."

"What is he like?" asked Amelia. She had lost heavily during the war, so much of her family, and there had been times when she had tried to seek out a confrontation with the dark wizard whose name she would not even say. She had drunk many a toast to the boy thirteen years ago, after he had miraculously ripped the dark lord from his body, and she had found herself very curious about him since he had shown up.

"He is a fighter. He seems heavily bound by a sense of duty, a need to do what needs doing, if he lost his arm in battle, I do not think he would stop to mourn the loss of it. If Voldemort is making some sort of opening move, then I think that we are lucky that he is what he has become."

"How powerful is he?"

"You have heard of course, of his confrontation with Cornelius?" At her nod he continued. "Had he so chosen, I doubt that I could have stopped him if he had tried to kill the man. Have you heard of the classes he will be teaching?"

Amelia nodded, it had been one of many bizarre reports coming out of the school from her niece. "If he can prevent specific spells from being cast, imagine what else he could be capable of." She paused, "Albus," and here she paused some more. She had long respected the old wizard, and she was loath to bring up such a ridiculous idea in front of him, but she had not been able to get the thoughts out of her head since she had heard them. "There has been a lot of wild speculation going on around the office, about the boy. Some have said that he has been in Atlantis." Which was silly, Atlantis was only a legend, a tale told to small children. Though even if it wasn't, the city was said to have drowned beneath the ocean before the time of the founders. But with the boy's strange abilities, there were a few who wondered if the boy had been hidden for so long in the city legend said Merlin himself came from. She supposed it might explain why the most advanced magical tracking had never been able to find the boy, if he was in the lost city. Still, the people who spoke of Atlantis as though it had really existed were the same sort who read the Quibbler.

"It is one of the many theories I have looked into since Harry disappeared, one that led nowhere like many others." At least the headmaster had also considered the theory, though it was entirely likely that he did read the Quibbler.

IIIIIII

Flying above the castle Harry made note of every dark shape moving around the perimeter of the grounds, each one a blight. They seemed to be staying out of the town though, which would make things easier. Cautiously, he flew down lower. As he approached the ground he slowed considerably and just glided over the grass, he flew so that he was flying parallel to the wall. He waited until he could feel it; he passed one of the dementors circling on the other side. In his animagus state, the effects were considerably less, and not in the slightest bit debilitating. He flew back to the school. He had a letter to send, and a reporter to meet in town.

IIIIIII

As he paced in his quarters, Barty Crouch Jr. grinned to himself. The night before had been a narrow escape, but he had always found that serving his master brought out the best in him, as his master would bring about the best in the world and cast out the dross, as he had cast out the dross in his own life. He looked out the window, at the falcon flying towards the castle. The boy was good, far better than even his master had dreamed. His master had been wise indeed to choose the boy, and he would make sure the world knew how wise his master was by the end. He had a lot of work ahead of him, the boy would be everything they needed when he was through.

A/N Special thanks to althor42 who is still involved in this story and has been an excellent beta. Don't worry, I resist his urgings to involve Edward in the proceedings. To those of you who have added me to their author alerts, thank you, but for now I will be posting here on althor42's profile. Who knows though, perhaps The Lord of Chaos will be posting his own story some day. Imaginary cookies to all who reviewed, I read them all. Now I'm trying to decide if there's anyone our hormonal Harry should be fancying, while trying to stick to business, and I need all the help I can get. Help me reviewers, you're my only hope. Point of interest, I have been doing most of my writing on my iTouch on break at work.


	7. 06 Duty

A/N: I'm so sorry this took so long to write. Several scenes had to be rewritten over and over again. Writers block hit me hard, and I took a break to write a one shot, posted on my profile. Sorry again. But don't worry, it's only one chapter to go, and then we get to the first task, which I promise will be very exciting.

Duty

A sense of weakness was all he felt at first, but that was soon replaced with all encompassing rage.

"Crucio!"

A man hovering next to him fell to the ground screaming loudly.

"How was she discovered?" a high cruel voice asked after the screaming had stopped; his voice?

"They did a sweep of all ministry personnel with access to the cup. They searched the castle as well, but I remained undetected. Dementors have been posted outside the grounds." This voice came from in front of him, but all he could see were indistinct shapes among the coals, he could barely understand what the man was saying, could barely hear. This angered him.

"Do they still suspect that there is someone in their midst?"

"They do my Lord, it has become dangerous. We cannot risk discovery. The boy is strong, but I can overcome him, I can take the blood from him. Your return is more important..."

"Silence! My return must bring the world to its knees. The plan has not changed; it is to late for this discovery to do them any good. The old fool still does not see my plan. You will continue on as you have." He felt contempt.

"Yes my Lord."

"Now tell me more of this theory that they have come up with."

Harry woke as though being pulled through molasses. His head ached, and his forehead burned. Pulling open the curtain around his bed, he could still see the moon hanging in the starlit sky through the window. He sighed, as he had been hoping for a decent amount of sleep. As he had been doing since Sirius had suggested it, he typed up everything he could remember from his strange dream. When he finished, he sat up in bed to think. The dream itself had been an anomaly, it had been so vivid, so real. He might have dismissed it if his scar hadn't been burning when he had woken up. He and Sirius had already determined that his scar most likely connected him in some fashion to the wizard who had given it to him, though they had never thought that the connection could be so strong. It was as though he had been the voice from the chair. Could he have really been feeling what the man had been feeling, seeing through his eyes. If he had, then he had probably been the boy being discussed. He wished he could have seen and heard more clearly but the whole time during the dream he had felt as though he were in a body that was failing. He hoped that wherever he was, Voldemort was as near the grave as he had felt.

He closed his eyes; he would have to see the headmaster before breakfast again, before he went to see Sirius.

IIIIIIIIII

"Come in Harry," called out the Headmaster, as Harry materialized on the landing outside the Headmasters door. He walked in and sat down as the Headmaster was waving his wand to conjure tea for them both.

Harry thanked the Headmaster, even as he scanned the beverage. "Last night," he started. "I had a very vivid dream where I was inside the body of Voldemort, feeling as though I was him. When I woke up my curse scar was burning. I know that the scar links me somehow to Voldemort, but I have never had reason to suspect that the connection could be so strong. Your library does not have any appropriate reference materials, and I was hoping that you would have some knowledge on the matter."

The Headmaster bowed his head in thought before he pulled out a device, one of many that littered the office, and consulted it as smoke and sparks spewed forth from it. Dumbledore gazed intently at it, as though gleaning information from every spark and wisp of smoke. For all that Harry knew, he was.

"It would appear as though there is a very deep connection between yourself and Voldemort. As you already know, you and Voldemort are the only two to have ever survived the killing curse, and as such there is no information on the matter. However, it is possible for a wizard to enter into the mind of another. Though it requires proximity and eye contact, it may be possible that if two wizards were otherwise connected, that those requirements might not be relevant. The killing curse works by separating the soul from the body. On that night, both you and Voldemort were struck by the same killing curse. You were saved from death, but it is difficult to say how the curse may have affected you. We can say for certain that Voldemort's soul was torn from his body, which was destroyed as the many dark spells he had used to strengthen it collapsed from the effect of the curse. I can only guess as to how he has gone about preventing his soul from moving on. Many curse scars are tangentially and often transiently linked to the wizard that caused them, but it is possible that on that night, when Voldemort's and perhaps your own soul were affected by this curse, that they became linked on a far deeper level than any ordinary curse scar would account for."

His soul. His soul was linked to that monster. He felt tainted; he could almost feel it, the connection. His hand clenched into a fist. "Are you sure that his continued existence was his doing? If we are so strongly linked, could it be possible that my soul has anchored his? Could I be keeping him alive?" He kept his voice calm, as though he were discussing a hypothetical theorem, with a peer on Tollana, but inside his heart was echoing in his ears. The library had extensive information about the war with Voldemort, and Harry had gleaned a lot about the dark wizard through the listing of his atrocities. Harry could compare the dark wizard to many of the System Lords. Could the Dark Lord have seen into his mind as well? The idea reminded him too much of Isis sifting through his thoughts.

"Harry," the Headmaster began. "It is difficult to say if that is the case. Voldemort performed many dark rituals, many experiments, trying to ensure that he would never die. It could be any number of things that prevented his soul from moving on, but I do not believe that two souls linked by a curse, no matter how strongly, could have prevented the dark lord from death."

Harry nodded, but he was determined. At that moment he would much rather sever the link with the dark lord than with the cup, and he would much prefer it if that were accomplished with the destruction of the spirit. The moment passed, he had better things than revenge to be getting on with.

"Perhaps it would be best if I witnessed the memory of this dream."

Harry hesitated, he had seen the Headmaster remove a memory from his own mind, but he was unsure if he wanted to do so himself.

"You would of course be able to return the memory to your mind after it has been viewed in the pensieve," assured the headmaster.

Harry nodded and, following the headmaster's instructions, removed the memory of the dream from his mind, and placed it into his pensieve. The headmaster swirled the silvery substance in the basin with his wand until Harry could see the image of the fireplace above the surface. The headmaster beckoned Harry to look closer, and at the man's urging, he dipped his face into the surface of the liquid. He felt a sensation as though he was falling and he braced himself for an impact that never came. He looked around himself, he was in the room from the dream, and while he could see the Headmaster next to him quite clearly, the entire room looked hazy and out of focus.

"Crucio!" a cruel, high pitched voice cried out in anger. Harry turned around and saw the body he had been in. He was almost glad that it was as blurry as the rest of the room. Together, Harry and Professor Dumbledore watched the scene unfold and when it was over, the Headmaster brought them back out.

"Is he possessing that body," Harry asked. "It looked like a baby."

The Headmaster shook his head. "The body of an infant would not be able to survive being possessed by such a spirit. It would appear that he has created a rudimentary body to possess, a homunculus. Though the dark lord's spirit appears to be having a deleterious affect on the body."

What Harry knew of homunculi came only from stories from mythology that Steven and Sarah had known.

"Were you able to tell who it was that was in the room with Voldemort?" Harry asked Dumbledore.

"Alas," the man said, "The quality of the memory was too poor for me to recognize either his face or his voice."

"Do you know who they were talking about having been discovered?"

The headmaster sighed. "At the same time that Hogwarts was swept, the ministry was as well. It was discovered that Bartimus Crouch was a polyjuiced impostor. He had been replaced by a missing Ministry employee, Bertha Jorkins. Her mind had been destroyed and she had been placed under the Imperius Curse. Crouch's body was discovered in his home, he has been dead since late August."

"Why replace him, couldn't they have just placed him under the Curse?"

"It is possible that they tried to do so, but he proved resistant to the curse. We are also trying to determine if there was any other reason for him to have been killed. It may be that he was killed and then replaced in order to assuage suspicion."

Harry nodded, "At least we know that this person is still in the school. If no one here is an impostor, then it is likely that this person is either one of the staff or they are successfully hiding in the castle."

The Headmaster nodded at this, "The entire staff is keeping an eye out. Though I trust all of the teachers of Hogwarts, the war with Voldemort often proved that you can never truly know what motivates anyone. You should know this however. Professor Karkaroff of Durmstrang was a Death Eater, and after his capture he gave up a great deal of information that and bought his freedom. I have of course kept a very close eye on him, and I do not believe that he is the one responsible."

Viktor had already mentioned as much, and Harry still couldn't quite wrap his mind around the fact that the man was the Headmaster of a school. "I'll be keeping my eye on everyone. And I will start searching for anyplace this person may be hiding in the school."

The Headmaster consulted a clock on the mantel with no hands. "Perhaps we should continue this discussion on our way to breakfast."

As they made their way down stairs, Harry could feel the privacy ward the Headmaster had created following them. The Headmaster started telling Harry about what Alastor Moody had been able to track down on one of his many excursions from the castle. It turned out that three of Harry's old school teachers had shown evidence of having memory charms placed on them, though there was no way to determine when or by who. The old Auror had asked around, to find anyone else around the three women who might have seen a stranger interacting with them, but he had not come up with anything.

IIIIIIIIII

Landing in the park he had met Sirius in, Harry quickly transformed and turned himself invisible. Making his way to the shed that they had previously used, Harry let himself in and set about making the shed private and cast a charm to take the edge off of the early morning chill. He didn't have to wait long before a crack announced Sirius's arrival.

"Well," he said. "Don't make me wait, let's see it now."

Harry was confused for a moment until, "Oh." He pulled out his new wand and Sirius grinned.

"Your first wand," said Sirius proudly. "Have you tried it out yet?" He was clearly more excited about Harry's new wand than Harry was.

"I sat through a transfiguration class yesterday. I saw a marked improvement in my ability, though it's still hardly my best subject. The theory is starting to make more sense, and I've certainly read enough books on the subject, but a lot of the time it all just feels wrong to me." He shrugged. "I think I have a bit of a better control over some of the more complex charms, and I'm more comfortable putting more power into others. I'm glad I got a chance to get one. I've owled the maker to request that he send me a few spares. I'd definitely like a chance to take one apart. The headmaster tells me my parents left me some funds, so there are a lot of magical items I hope to be able to take with me to study. How was your trip? I trust it was uneventful."

Sirius pulled off the bag he had slung over his shoulder.

"No problems, the Tollans are happy to help, though they declined my suggestion that they invade Hogwarts. They suggested I bring back a copy of whatever the scanner reads."

Harry rather doubted that Sirius had suggested the invasion in any seriousness, he had always been adamant that the wizarding world remain a secret. "I trust word has not gotten out about my being here."

Sirius shook his head, "It's just the Tollans and the IOA. I know you don't want to create an intergalactic incident."

Harry snorted at the understatement. "Yes, well I certainly don't intend to let an army of Jaffa get the idea that they should come rescue me. Though things would be much easier if the IOA would decide to out the Stargate program, I don't want to see the mass panic that would happen if any of my allies decided they needed to come get me."

Sirius grinned at the thought. Though very protective of the secretive wizarding world, Harry supposed that the idea of the rest of Earth finding out about aliens during a Harry Potter rescue mission was probably very funny to the man. He had always loved chaos.

"So what have you been doing while I've been away?" the man asked.

"Quite a lot actually. I've forged an alliance of sorts with the other champions. They're well positioned to be on the lookout for suspicious activities with the tournament. I also talked to a reporter yesterday, about the conspiracy to cover up your innocence. She's a piece of work, but I get the feeling she'd really like a chance to write an expose on the Ministry. We'll see how it works out, the article should come out tomorrow in the Sunday edition."

"I don't know that a news article is going to convince them to exonerate me," said Sirius.

Harry shrugged, "If anything, this society should be encouraged to focus more on what their government is doing, to have less faith. Besides, someone should be advocating for you."

Sirius smiled at him and Harry was reminded of his other meeting. "I met that wizard who's been looking for me, Remus Lupin, I guess he never stopped, and it sounds like he had been on the trail of the temple in Tucume when I got here. Perhaps before I leave I'll go make sure there aren't any ships buried under his temple. I think he believes in your innocence but I'm not inclined to take anything for granted. Other than that I've been going to classes and attacking the library."

Sirius laughed, "I'm sure by the time you leave you'll have found a hundred different avenues for research when you aren't off saving the universe."

Harry smiled at that, "Enough to last a lifetime.

"So what aren't you telling me?"

Harry scowled, Sirius had always known when Harry was hiding something, and the man refused to reveal his tell. "I studied the dementors."

Sirius's expression darkened, "You exposed yourself to them you mean."

"It was only for a minute, I'm fine, and I collected a lot of good data." Harry said reasonably. He loved Sirius, but he refused to act the penitent for him.

"Harry, it has been hard to deal with the scars of what they did to me, maybe understanding them will help, but I don't want you to play lab rat just to get more data for my healers. It isn't your job to do that for me." The 'It's mine to do for you' was left unsaid.

Harry shook his head, he hated when Sirius got like that. "You deserve to be whole. You shouldn't have to just live with your demons. Besides, it isn't just for you, I think I can exterminate them. No one else should have to go through what you did."

Sirius looked at him, exasperated. "Harry, you're an amazing young man, but it isn't your duty to solve all the universe's problems. I was so happy when you went to Atlantis for the Arcturus Project; you'd decided to just do something that excited you. But then of course you decided to save that galaxy. You don't have to define yourself by destroying all the evil in the universe, it isn't your duty."

"I am doing this for me. I want- I need to do this. You act like you don't understand, but you do. You know exactly what it's like, or you wouldn't be here. You aren't complete if you ignore your calling. I wouldn't be me if I ignored this. I need purpose, I need duty." Neither of them were really talking about dementors anymore.

Sirius looked at him sadly, "You don't have to justify your existence to the universe. Saving the day, sacrificing of yourself may satisfy a need, but does it make you happy? Will destroying these dementors give you peace? Of course not, because then it will be the Wraith, and then there will be something else, and something else again. As long as you convince yourself that all of this is your duty, nothing will ever be enough."

Harry looked Sirius in the eye, "I know destroying the wraith isn't going to be the end of it, but it isn't like I'm never happy, I do what I need to do and I find happiness on the way. We can't ignore what we need. It's Maslow's Hierarchy; we can't move forward till our needs are met. This is just who I am. I need you to accept that. This is who I am."

Sirius slumped back in his chair, and he looked at Harry with the same eyes he had seen when he had told the man years earlier that his memories had been erased. "You're right," he paused. "I do understand, really, I wouldn't be here if I didn't feel the same way. But you have to understand that your peace is my peace. I didn't help you stop that war to save the galaxy; I did it so you could stop fighting it. If I can accept that you have to fight your battles, then you have to accept that I will always want what's better for you. You are my family, and I will never stop looking out for you."

"I guess I can if you can." He held out his hand and Sirius shook it solemnly.

"You will be careful though?" Sirius asked, not letting go.

"I'm always careful," Harry said with a grin. Sirius gave him a look.

"I'm always careful about the dangerous things I do." Harry amended.

They both sat back in their chairs again and Harry continued his explanation of what had been happening. Crouch's death, of course, was one more thing for Sirius to worry over, and with things as they were he was very reluctant to tell Sirius about the dream, and his connection to the dark wizard, Voldemort. Sirius swore when he finished his retelling.

"And there was no way to determine who he was talking to?" Sirius asked.

"No," Harry shook his head. "If there was one good thing I can report, it's that his body felt incredibly weak, I could hardly see or hear."

"From what I've heard, he isn't supposed to have a body at all."

Harry shrugged, "Well it looks like whoever is working for Voldemort is still in the castle, probably hiding somewhere. The drone should help me find places where someone would hide out."

When they had finished discussing everything, Harry set to work on the items that Sirius had brought him. Scanning himself with the subspace particle scanner, he uploaded the information into his computer and onto one of the crystals, as well as all the information he had gathered on dementors for Sirius' healers. Into the other crystal, he uploaded the command codes that Sirius would need to bring the Libertas to Hogwarts. He handed both crystals to Sirius.

"When you get to Atlantis I want you to ask them to send an update with all the information they've gathered on the wraith, I may be able to find something in the library here that would be relevant to the fight."

"You should be focusing on getting out of here; let the wraith wait till you do."

"Oh I will, but searching the library is about to get a lot easier. If I set the proper parameters, my computer might be able to separate out topics that might help." He held up the reconnaissance drone. "This should be able to scan all of the books in the library in short order."

Sirius gave a bark of a laugh. "You're going to take the library with you then."

Harry shrugged, "It's not an opportunity I plan on passing by." He stood up. "I still have a lot to do. If everything goes well I will be seeing you in a week. Unless everything goes really well, then I might be out of here when I get a chance to go over the subspace data. I hope you're looking forward to visiting another galaxy."

"Almost as much as I am looking forward to putting pranks all around your ship. It's an unparalleled opportunity, a week to work everything out." He sported a grin that said he was much too pleased with himself, and Harry groaned.

"Just what I need, you know I've been pranked fifteen times since I got here, it's like it's some sort of cultural tradition for the wizarding world, I'm starting to think maybe this whole tournament fiasco was just Voldemort's idea of a prank."

"Oh someone's been pranking you? Do tell, what have they been doing?" Sirius had an excited grin on his face.

Harry sported a faux apologetic look, "Oh sorry Sirius, but I've really got to run, I'll fill you in in a week."

"Wait, Harry, you can't just..."

Harry disapparated with a crack to a point just down the road from the Hogwarts main gate, far enough away from where the dementors were patrolling. He grinned to himself, curiosity would be plaguing his godfather the whole week he was away, small recompense for whatever would be left behind on his ship when it arrived.

Shooting himself past the main gates of the school, he quickly made his way up to the great hall for lunch. Before he walked in however, he pulled out the drone. Giving it instructions, he sent it off to scout out the castle and the grounds. It would finish in the library, by scanning each and every book therein.

Things were going well, he thought. An immense amount of knowledge at his fingertips, his ship would arrive in a week, and his godfather was safely out of reach of the dementors. He was glad that there had been some sort of resolution to the argument that he had had with Sirius, previous arguments on that topic had never so much been resolved as ended. He didn't kid himself to think that it would be the end of the issue though.

Walking into the Great Hall he went on high alert. The culprit behind the pranks had started mixing things up, becoming less predictable. He had originally planned to discover the identity of the pranker, but had decided he had too much on his plate at the moment to worry about harmless pranks. Besides which, he found some joy in preserving the mystery; it kept him on his toes. Making his way to the staff table he sat down to enjoy his lunch undisturbed. He noticed that Professor Moody was absent from the staff table, as he had been that morning. Harry wondered if the man was still out following leads for Dumbledore.

Harry wound up having a very interesting conversation with Professor Babbling about Ancient Runes. Another class he might like to audit. Midway through the meal, a small ruckus was caused when a boy at the Slytherin table jumped up from his seat sprouting what appeared to be scales all over his body. There were screams and laughter and a moment later it was all over as an older student canceled whatever charm had been put on the boy. Certainly not the first such display he had seen around the school.

After lunch he made his way to an unused classroom where he would be meeting Remus. The night before he had read up on the Patronus charm in preparation for the lessons that the man had offered.

Upon entering he saw the man sitting at one of the unused desks reading a small book, which he put in his pocket when Harry entered. "Good afternoon Harry," he greeted.

Harry smiled at the man and returned the greeting. "So," he said. "How do you want to start?"

"I thought you could start by telling me what you know about the Patronus charm."

"Right, the Patronus charm is considered a light spell, and, being fueled by positive memories and emotions, it requires a great deal of focus and practice. The primary function of the charm is to temporarily inoculate those within reach against the effect of dementors. Creating a positive energy that the dementor's energy cannot penetrate. It is a common misnomer to say that the dementor feeds off of positive emotion. It suppresses the ability to feel positive emotion and represses thoughts that can cause positive emotions. It feeds off of the negative emotion that this causes. The Patronus creates a positive magical energy that they can not suppress or tolerate, and thus the second function of the Patronus is to drive away dementors."

Remus nodded, "That's very good, have you tried to cast the charm yet?"

Harry nodded with a frown, "My results have been far from exemplary. When I delve the spell after it has been cast, the energy matrices are very unstable and vary heavily. All I've been getting are faint wisps of silvery mist."

Remus smiled reassuringly, "I wouldn't expect anything else, even if your wand work is perfect, it takes a lot of practice to focus both your energy and emotions properly into the spell. Let's start from the beginning. Cast the charm, and we'll see if your wand work is correct."

Harry held out his hand and said confidently, "Expecto Patronum." On the first word his wrist made a rotation clockwise and on the second rolled a quarter counter-clockwise and flowed into a jab at the end. A small amount of silvery mist shot out, looking a lot like the memory that the Headmaster had pulled out of his mind. He looked at Remus expectantly, who was frowning.

"It's difficult to say without a wand to follow. Have you tried to cast with your new wand?"

Harry nodded, "I have, the results are the same." He pulled out his wand though and cast the spell again with the same motion generating the same results.

"Ah, yes," said Remus. "That was good, text-book even. Were you focusing on your memory or were you focusing on getting the annunciation and movement timed right."

"I perfected those before I actually started trying to cast the spell. When I'm casting I focus on the results I want, the theory behind the charm, and the memory I selected."

Remus chuckled, "That's a lot to focus on. I'm sure that the books you'll have read will have only told you to focus on the memory and the emotion."

"Oh they did, but I just assumed that intent was just as important, like in other charms. I've also always found that I get better results when I'm cognizant of the theory behind the spell, even if it is just an abstract sense."

"Most charms are driven by intent, and understanding theory is important, especially in Transfiguration, but this is a different classification of a Charm. It is fueled by your emotions, formed and guided by your soul, not your mind. Try again, focus on the memory and the emotions, and feel them. Your mind should be no more taxed than what is needed to get your wand work right. Take your time, we'll get it right, then we'll get it fast. With practice you can bring your mind to the right state of being to cast it in a moment with ease, but for now you're going to have to work for it."

Harry nodded; he cleared his mind and focused on his memory. It was after Anubis had been defeated; he had visited the Nox home world and spent time with Lya and her people. It had been a time when he had been at peace, with himself and the universe. He focused on one day in particular, running through the trees, playing silly games with the other children, he remembered the laughter the most. He couldn't remember a time when he had been more carefree. He cast the spell again.

A silver mist shot out of his wand and formed a barrier in front of him. He smiled; it was a better success than he had had thus far.

"Good job," exclaimed Remus. "You make progress quickly. I should tell you this spell isn't even taught until seventh year, and many students never master it. Keep trying, and remember, let your emotions guide the magic, your mind needs to let go."

Harry practiced the incantation several more times, but he seemed to have hit a block, his Patronus wasn't improving.

"What am I doing wrong?" he asked Remus.

"It takes time to train the mind to focus properly. After your initial success, I had thought to see more progress by this time, but there isn't a benchmark here, it may just be a mater of more practice."

Harry shook his head, "Sirius taught me to meditate, I have gotten very good at focusing my mind."

"It may be that the memory you are using isn't the right one." Remus suggested. "How did you decide on your memory?"

"Meditation," said Harry. "I focused until I found a memory of when I had felt the most carefree and undistractedly happy."

"Perhaps your search was too focused. You said that the memory was of a time when you were happy. But how does the memory make you feel now? The charm is not fueled by emotions of the past but the emotions elicited by the memory in the present. Perhaps you should ponder that for a while."

Harry frowned; he had been focusing on the memory, and the memory of joy. He sat down and closed his eyes, thinking of his time among the Nox. He focused for a while until he arrived at his answer. After the war he had been intent on not fighting any more. His time with Lya had been the start of that. But as time went on he had continued to let himself be guided by duty, by his calling, until it had led him to the war in Pegasus. The boy on the Nox home world was gone, and he felt that loss keenly, he had been feeling that loss for a while. He opened his eyes.

"I need a new memory."

"This takes time," Remus said. "Keep thinking about it. We can come back to this when I come back in a week. Would you like to walk me down to the castle gates?"

"Very well," said Harry distractedly.

Harry didn't feel like very good company as they walked the halls of the school. He was very preoccupied with what he had discovered at the end of the lesson. He had been telling the truth when he had told Sirius that he did what he needed to do, and found happiness along the way. But as he searched his mind he couldn't find any memories of happiness like he had experienced with the Nox. Even when he hadn't been fighting he had always thrown himself into whatever he was working on, whether that was a new field of research or searching for the Sangraal he dedicated himself to whatever task he had in front of him. He hadn't slowed down since the end of the war.

He scowled to himself. He was letting Sirius' words from earlier get to him. Just because he didn't allow himself to be carefree didn't mean there was something wrong with him. He was plenty happy, just not in the same way others his age were. He'd just need another memory, like his excitement over the Arcturus project, or one of his many successes in the search for the Sangraal. Bringing himself out of his reverie with a shake of his head he cast around for something to discuss with Remus.

"Is meditation very common in the wizarding world? I haven't seen any references to it in my studying."

Remus smiled, "It isn't very common, no. There are some obscure branches of magic that require it, but most wizards never bother with it. Sirius learned it during his Auror training. He had always been a bit hot headed and one of his trainers suggested it as a way to keep his cool in the field."

Harry laughed, "There are many things I've always assumed were common here just because Sirius is the only wizard I know. There's quite a lot that Sirius's taught me that doesn't seem to be common knowledge here."

"The marauders studied a lot into the obscure during our time in Hogwarts, but Sirius in particular, he was raised at home with a focus in the old magic."

"Was he a very good Auror?" Harry asked. Everything he knew about the man suggested that he must have been.

"He was," said Remus. "He had only been in the program for four years, but he was considered one of the best. The war affected us all," he said sadly. "He approached his work with a dedication I had never seen in him before. Your father, too, was very gifted as an Auror."

"What did my mother do?" The question borne of momentary curiosity was past his lips before he could catch himself.

Remus hesitated before he answered. "Officially, your mother worked for Loadstone Wizarding Productions as a charms specialist. Unofficially she did charm work for the fight against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."

Now Harry's curiosity was truly peaked, and he pushed past his discomfort to go on. "By unofficially, do you mean she worked for the ministry in secret, or that she worked without the ministry's knowledge?"

Remus sighed, "At the time, the ministry was in shambles, and heavily infiltrated. There were many who decided they wouldn't stand at the sidelines and watch the world crumble, nor wait for the ministry to pull itself together. Many of us worked together to subvert Voldemort's growth without ministry support, many from within the ministry."

"Like Sirius, and my father?"

Remus nodded, and for a moment Harry felt oddly happy to know how his parents had fought Voldemort. He scowled, such feelings where what he had been trying to avoid. He changed the subject.

"You know you were a very good teacher back there. Do you think you might go into teaching now that you don't have me to look for?"

Remus sighed, "I haven't decided yet if my task is finished or not."

"I assure you, you will not find me after I leave. Whether you believe that I've left the planet or not, you have no means by which to find me. It is impossible."

Remus actually chuckled at this, "Harry, between having grown up with your father and Sirius, and my search for you, I have become quite convinced that nothing is impossible. If you had told the Marauders that something was impossible, we would have only taken it as a challenge."

"What would you have done with your life if you hadn't had me to look for. What did you want to be when you were a student?"

"I had no career during the war, I was busy acting as an envoy of sorts among various groups. I had a variety of jobs after the war until the Headmaster contacted me about you. I suppose I may have sought out a career as a teacher, or perhaps a librarian, I'd even dabbled in art. But now, these past many years looking for you, I have explored the world, studying archaeology, and anthropology along the way. I suppose I've become part detective, and part explorer."

"Well you could do that then, just without the part where you're looking for me."

Remus smiled at him, "Perhaps Harry, perhaps. Now the question is, if you hadn't taken the path you have taken, what do you think that you would currently aspire to do in your future."

Harry laughed at the question, "I suppose back when I was taken I hadn't had much of an idea. As it stands, I suppose that if I didn't have the tasks in front of me that I do, I should very much like to go into scientific exploration, or perhaps healing. I am very good at both."

"Healing?" asked Remus. "I suppose if you have been fighting in battles that such a skill would come in handy."

"Oh it does," replied Harry. "When my other skills are not needed I double as a field medic. It was odd though, knowing that I heal them to the point where they would soon rejoin the fight, perhaps to die in the next battle. The healing I do in peacetime is much more meaningful. During my travels and exploration I have always repaid a village's hospitality with healing. It is very uplifting to see a crippled man walk about without aid, or to see a child who was bedridden run outside to play." With that thought, he realized that he was not the sort who found joy in carefree days spent at play; he found joy from helping others. It was not as exuberant a feeling as he had felt among the Nox, but it was a joy he could feel without feeling conflicted. He would spend time selecting and processing an appropriate memory for the charm.

"So why not pursue a life in healing, why fight in secret wars. You're fourteen Harry, you can have an amazing life ahead of you. I have seen battle, I have seen how quickly and unpredictably even the best are cut down. If you can find meaning in healing others, then why not let that be your life."

Harry smiled at him ruefully, "You're parroting Sirius now. Look, I can help thousands of lives going around healing others the rest of my life, I can help hundreds of thousands if I use research to cure diseases, but there are many who can do the same. The battles I fight decide the fates of millions, and I have never met another who can do what I can in that arena. Can't you see, could you make the decision any differently than I have?" They had reached the gates.

Remus looked down at him sadly. "I'll see you in a week," he said with a smile, and Harry knew what the man's answer would have been. He bid him farewell.

Harry watched as Remus walked through the gate to be stopped by the Auror who was left to keep an eye on the dementors. The man looked to check Remus off a list, a small Patronus hovering next to him. With a final look of goodbye the man apparated away.

Deciding to walk back to the castle, he opened the data he had gathered on Dementors. He worked on the project until late in the evening. As he made his way to the Great Hall, he was pleased when the drone he had sent off earlier connected with his computer, it had finished it's task. He started perusing the data it had sent back to him. There was nothing too surprising on the school grounds except for a few tunnels below the surface that seemed to lead in the direction of the village below. There were areas where magic was being used, or charms were in place. The castle itself, however, was filled with readings he had never seen outside of a lab. There were many areas in the castle where rooms were out of flux with the physical universe, in some cases, space seemed to fold in on itself, connecting various parts of the castle. In others, there appeared to be what he could only describe as concentrated space, rooms where the outside encompassed a smaller space than the actual size of the room. One such area in particular, appeared to be a tunnel going from the third floor corridor, down to well below the castle dungeons into a massive cavern underneath the school. There were many places to hide in the castle; it would take him a while to search everywhere. He would contemplate an effective search parameter later. If someone was hiding in the castle, the map was his best chance of finding them. The only question now was where he would find time to learn from the library. The scan of the library showed over ten thousand books. He started his computer analyzing and organizing the data. He'd have a better idea of where to start after he saw a list of all the subjects he had to choose from, and an index wouldn't be amiss either.

IIIIIIIIII

Back on Tollana, Sirius stood before the gate. He had always been comfortable with all forms of magical transportation, but the first time he had traveled by Stargate, Harry had told him exactly what it would do to him. He had always had to check himself after a trip, to make sure that he had been reassembled properly on the other side. The gate started up, and Sirius could feel the power in the air as the gate charged far more than it did for normal travel. The vortex formed with a whoosh, and Sirius looked at it with trepidation, he would be disassembled and shot over a distance several times the length of the galaxy, and somehow he would be put back together again on the other side.

"The shield over their gate is down, it is now safe to go through," said the Tollan man who would be accompanying him.

Sirius nodded and went through, closing his eyes just before his face entered the event horizon. Without any time having seemed to go by at all, he walked out the other side, in the Pegasus galaxy, inside the children's fairy tale Atlantis. He looked around, it didn't look like he had imagined.

"Hello Mr. Black, Mr. Aalon" said the only person in the gate room not wearing military clothing. "Welcome to Atlantis."

Sirius smiled at the woman. "Dr. Weir I presume. Harry has told me so much about you." Though he had never told him how cute she was.

"And you as well. Would you like a tour of the city before you get under way?"

"That, I'm afraid my good Doctor, is a pleasure that must wait for another day. The sooner I leave, the sooner I can get to where I'm going."

"Right this way then." She led him to a very small room. "Harry's ship is on the pier." A panel in the wall slid open.

"Is this an elevator?" he asked.

"Not quite," she said pressing a spot on the panel.

Suddenly his world was replaced by white light, and though when it faded it looked like he was in the same place, he knew that he had moved somewhere. Perhaps it was better if he didn't know how this one worked. The doors opened, and indeed they were somewhere else in the city. Dr. Weir led them out and soon they were on the pier overlooking the ocean. Sirius was caught between awe of the place he was in, and the slightly sick feeling the teleportation had left him with. And there was the Libertas in front of him. He grinned at the sight of the ship his Godson had created. He bid Dr. Weir a farewell and instructed the Tollan scientist to hold on to him tightly as he apparated onto the bridge of the ship. The lights came on as the ship recognized his presence. He walked over to a terminal and followed Harry's instructions. The crystal went into a slot, and without further prompting, the ship started to rise. He watched out the view screen as the horizon disappeared, though he could not feel any acceleration. The screen went dark and stars appeared outside as the ship traveled outside of the planets atmosphere. Moments later, the view was replaced by the purple hued vortex of a hyperspace window. He sat back in the chair in the middle of the bridge.

"Hello Sirius," said Harry's voice. "Greetings Nol. You already know your way around, so I'll forego the tour. Have fun during your week long trip, though try not to break anything. I don't want you going stir-crazy so there's some entertainment queued up in the recreation area. Have fun, I'll see you guys soon."

IIIIIIII

Long ago, Sirius had said that everything in the universe was linked to an extent. It had been difficult, but they had found evidence that such a connection could be found in subspace. Objects were linked, people were linked, even individual atoms were linked somehow over subspace. Though for the most part, most of these links were barely identifiable. Several of the spells that Sirius had taught him functioned, at least in part, in subspace, and seemed to use these links as a part of their function. Some spells seemed to create even stronger links. Recent advances in technology had helped them to start identifying and tracing these links, and the various particles in subspace that they were comprised of. Complex computations could try to determine how these particles interacted with one another, but subspace did not operate with the same laws as the physical universe, and predicting outcomes was difficult without more knowledge. Unfortunately, much of subspace was still a mystery.

Harry had just finishes his nightly study session, immersed in his computer, having the entire library at his fingertips was very nice, but he wasn't ready for sleep, he opened up the data he had gotten from the subspace particle scanner with a bit of trepidation. Scans taken on Tollana had shown that there was some sort of link that stemmed from the scar on his forehead, though it had always been stronger than the link that could be found between any two given objects in a room, it was still barely detectable. Distance mattered, what would he see now that he and Voldemort were not separated by thousands of lightyears. Looking at the data, two things stood out. The link connected to his scar was massive, overwhelming many of the other readings. There was another as well, one he had never seen before, and he supposed that it must be the connection with the cup. It stemmed directly from his center of gravity, and from what he could tell from the readings earlier that day, it stored a massive amount of energy, and it was unimaginably complex. While the link was in subspace, it very obviously had a physical effect on him. He could imagine that it would be very dangerous to simply sever such a powerful connection. Obviously, the cup was capable of safely dissolving the connection, but he didn't even understand half of the readings from the scan. He turned his attention to the link with Voldemort. When Harry had been studying subspace, back when he had still been attending the academy on Tollana, he had considered dissolving the link between himself and his parents murderer, but the scar had never really bothered him before, and he had been much more interested in learning how links were created, using magic, than about how they were destroyed. The links created when certain spells were used had been far easier to study, than those occurring naturally. However they had never encountered anything as powerful or complex as how the connection to Voldemort was now, or the connection with the cup. He would need his ship's computer to even process the data, and a lot of help from the Tollan scientists who were still studying the subspace phenomena. Though even among Tollan scientists, subspace was still the undiscovered country of science.

He had grown quite self assured since he had first arrived. He had seen a backwards society, and assumed that he could find a way around anything they could have done to contain him. But looking at the data in front of him, he realized that he was out of his depth. Maybe if his education had not been capped on Tollana, he could make better sense of what he was seeing. He would have to wait for the Libertas, his ship's powerful computers would make the information more manageable, but even then, it was more likely that the Tollan scientists would find the answers than that Harry would find them himself. It was looking more likely that he would not be leaving as soon as he had hoped.

He looked once more at his connection to Voldemort. At the point where it connected to him, it looked like tendrils of the link were wrapped around something, something the scanner could not pick up. Could it be his soul? Though evidence had suggested that the soul did in fact exist, they still had been unable to identify it, to detect it. Harry closed the file and withdrew his mind into the real world.

That night he dreamed that he was in a black void, surrounded by the tendrils of the link with Voldemort. The tendrils started attacking him, and though he fought his arms and legs felt like lead, and they were soon encumbered by the tendrils. He opened his mouth, to shout his defiance, but one of the tendrils shot forward, penetrating the back of his throat. He felt it wrap around his spinal column, his eyes flashed, and he woke up drenched in sweat. He spent the rest of the night sifting through data from the library.

A/N: As always, please review, reviews fuel the writing process, I read every single one.


	8. 07 Interlude

A/N: Wow, it's been so long. So sorry, summer's been crazy. Between my trip to Hawaii and working summer hours in an amusement park, time has been scarce. I'm going to try to finish the First Task within a month though.

Interlude

"All right, that's it for today's lesson. Now I want everyone to review the names and characteristics of the ten most commonly used particles in magic, and I want a summary of the scientific method found in the reading materials I gave you this morning. Extra credit for anyone who can devise a proper experiment to test one of Newton's Laws.

"Now, next class we will be discussing how these particles interact with one another, and you will all be tasked to formulate a testable hypothesis revolving around what you have learned so far." As Professor McGonagall had suggested, he stayed behind to answer any questions as the students filed out. It was Friday, and the day's class was the third one. He was pleased that a sizable portion of the school was still in attendance. Particularly in light of some of the school's reaction to recent events.

As the last few students trickled out Ronald Weasley walked up to his desk. The redhead had avoided him for a couple of days after their discussion of Peter Pettigrew, but he had apologized a few nights ago for his accusations, which Harry had waved aside as unnecessary. The thing was, that between his mysterious appearance and the Ministry press releases, a good many students looked at him with suspicion and fear, and he couldn't really blame them; he was, after all, the brainwashed Godson of a mass murderer.

"How can I help you," Harry asked genially, as Ron reached his desk.

"Um, well this evening there's going to be a pickup game of quiditch, it won't be like an official match, but if you want to watch or if you know how to play you should come." The boy seemed both awkward and inviting. Ron and the rest of the Gryffindor fourth years seemed to have accepted the Headmaster's assurances that what the Ministry had printed was untrue, but they all seemed caught between trying to include him like one of their peers and treating him like the legend who had popped out of nothing and had randomly become one of their teachers.

Harry was about to decline the offer with thanks, he did after all have an awful lot to do, but the conversation he had had with Sirius rung in his ears and he found himself accepting the offer.

"Great," said the redhead. "See you at three at the pitch." He left the class to catch up with his classmates.

Harry left the classroom after typing a few notes for the next one. On the way to breakfast Harry had to wonder if there would be another spectacle that day. He had gotten very good at avoiding the magical booby-traps that the prankster had been leaving for him, and so the culprit had moved on to pranks involving other students that still centered around him. A few nights before, several students at the Hufflepuff table started screaming that Harry was a vampire in disguise. They had been bewitched somehow to see him with fangs. The day before, a girl in her first year came up to him and told him quite earnestly that she had received a letter from her future self telling her she would marry him, (at least, Harry hoped that the letter she showed him was from the prankster). It had taken him most of the day to convince her that she was mistaken and that she should stop following him. But he made it all the way through his breakfast without incident.

IIIIIIII

"Petrificus Totalus," roared Professor Moody.

"Protego," the fourth year called out, almost like a question.

The class laughed a bit as the boy's limbs snapped to his body and he fell stiff as a board to the cushioned ground.

The professor rounded on the rest of the class. "Think it's funny, do you? Think it's just a harmless jinx?" He directed the question to one of the boys who had been laughing.

"Well it is pretty harmless", the boy said, while trying not to blanch at the professors unusual stare. "It's not like it ripped his insides out or anything."

The professor canceled the spell on the volunteer on the floor. "Well see if you'll laugh when you're defenseless against a dark wizard who's just gotten past your shield. Every single curse, jinx and hex you'll face in battle can be your end. They don't have to rip your insides out if they can hit you with a minor spell that will give them time or an opening to cast something really dark at you. Then they can take their time playing with your insides." The man spoke with an intensity that said he was speaking from experience, and by the end the boy was squirming in his seat.

He turned to the rest of the class, "There were many good Aurors who fell during the war, their fight ended when they were hit with _harmless _spells." The word harmless was said with scorn.

"Right," He said. "Forget the exercise we were preparing for. Everyone is going to break up into partners. You will let your partner hit you with a jellyleg curse; then you will try to block a volley of five Petrificus Totaluses. Extra credit to anyone who isn't petrified. Will you be joining us Professor Potter or will you just be observing."

The old Auror had told Harry that the fourth years would be starting the basics of dueling, and since he had never fought a wizard, he had thought it best to join in.

"I'll join in Professor. Can't just learn this stuff from a book."

He stood up with the rest of the students in the classroom, and looked around for an unattached partner. He saw Neville standing awkwardly to the side and called out to him. The boy's eyebrows shot up when he saw who had called him, though he sidled over."

"Um," he said. "You want me to curse you?"

Harry smiled, "Well, I don't think we can do the exercise without that. If it will make you feel any better I could curse you first."

The boy nodded. Harry looked around the spacious classroom, it was somewhat chaotic with all of the students cursing each other. He motioned at the boy's wand urging him to raise it in defense. "Ready?" he asked. Neville nodded and Harry called out the incantation. Immediately the boys legs went wobbly and he flailed about for a moment before falling sideways, his wand leaving his hand when he braced himself. Harry made a gesture and the boy stopped before he hit the ground. Harry canceled the spell and helped the boy get up.

"You didn't petrify me," he said.

Harry shrugged, "We'll do it again, this time I'll petrify you if you can't get out of the way. This time though, you shouldn't bother trying to stay upright, the point of the jinx is that you can't. Instead you should be trying to counter the incoming curses or creating a distraction so you can remove the jinx from yourself or try to use your momentum to roll out of the way. Do you know how to roll properly?" He asked, Neville shook his head. Harry smiled, "I can teach you later. The ground is cushioned, so don't worry about the fall, just focus on blocking me." He raised his wand and Neville did to. He called out the jinx and the boy started to fall. "Petrificus Totalus," he said. Neville's wand slashed down to perform the counter, but the spell struck and he landed stiff as a board.

"That was good," Harry said as he helped the boy off of the ground.

"You got me with your first shot," Neville pointed out.

Harry shook his head, "Your wand movement was too compact, but you can improve on that with practice. The important thing is that you reacted quickly enough, even after you were jinxed." Neville didn't look convinced. Noticing that the rest of the class was finished with the exercise, Harry and Neville sat back down.

"A magical battle," the professor began, launching back into the lecture; no one, it seemed, had earned the extra credit, "is not won by strength of magic alone. Except when opponents are grossly mismatched, a good duelist uses both complex and simple spells in a fight. Powerful spells weaken an opponents shield and a hit will end the fight, while rapidly fired simple spells have a better chance of getting through shield lapses and are less draining. The more often your opponent has to change shields, the weaker he'll be, and a good duelist uses this to their advantage. In the end though, most duels between competent opponents are ended when one is hit with a simple spell that they can't recover from in time to block the next.

The professor kept lecturing on dueling technique, occasionally using a volunteer to demonstrate a concept. A lot of what he said was universal to any sort of battle, and it was wisdom that had saved Harry's life before. But some was exclusively useful in magical dueling, and Harry found himself listening raptly to the experienced Auror's lecture. Most of it wasn't in the clinical dueling books that Harry had been pulling information from.

"Potter," the grizzled Auror called out towards the end of the class period. "I think perhaps that you can show these students what a wizard does when he takes a hit in battle." He gestured towards the front of the classroom.

Harry smiled and joined the man in front of the class. The two faced each other and they both raised their wands. The professor cast a spell and Harry allowed the jelly leg jinx to hit him. He felt his legs lose their ability to support him, and as he started to turn in on himself to roll with the fall; he cast a spell at the floor between himself and the professor, sending a cloud of powdered rock up into the air to obscure which way he rolled. As he landed on the floor he washed the residual magic from the jinx out of his legs and had to quickly use his newly functioning limbs to flip backwards out of the way of a hex. Back on his feet, he had little trouble countering the rest of the hexes in the exercise.

Finished, they nodded to one another, and Professor Moody motioned for him to stay in the front as he turned to address the rest of the class.

"You have to expect to be hit, you have to be ready for pain: to have your legs ripped out from under you. You can't keep your focus if you don't. And when you do get hit you don't have time to worry about it, you just have to keep going. You have to have CONSTANT VIGILANCE," he roared at the end.

The class jumped, though the professor seemed to find opportunity to roar his mantra during every class. He turned back to Harry. "Care to show these students what a real fight looks like."

Harry smiled again, it had been a while since he had sparred and he felt it would be beneficial to experience a purely magical fight. "The limits?" he asked.

"No permanent damage," the professor said.

With that the two of them faced each other and bowed. It was time to put the knowledge he had absorbed to the test. The Auror started with a barrage of minor blasting hexes which Harry deflected back to the Professor, causing him to throw up a shield of his own. Harry recognized the shield and threw a powerful blasting curse over the top of the professors head that struck the apex of the shield and shattered it, while the professor was preparing his next attack, Harry sent several quick stunners at him which he dodged spryly for a man with a wooden leg. Moody's return was not aimed at Harry, the spell flew far to his right where it hit a suit of armor in the corner which sprung to life and rushed at Harry. He banished the construct quickly, but was unable to see the next spell the man sent his way. The violet jet could have been anything and Harry threw up a powerful shield even as he dodged out of the way as the spell erupted against the shield. Coming out of a roll he dove over another spell that sent up a spray of rock where it impacted the stone floor. He had to dodge two more spells as he summoned the desk behind the professor. Papers went flying as the professor turned and blasted the desk away from himself while Harry sent a volley of stunners to cover any which way the professor might try to dodge. But the man was quick with a shield, even as his back was turned. Spinning around the man sent what looked like a silver arrow from his wand, which Harry banished sending a volley in return. Soon the duel was nothing but a back and forth, both of them flinging a variety of curses, hexes and jinxed at each other. Harry's research had paid off, and he found that he recognized almost all of the spells sent his way, allowing him to deflect or counter many spells without a draining shield. Many counters had wand movements that led into the wand movements for several curses and jinxed, which Harry took advantage of. After a minute of rapid wand movement, and ducking and dodging, Harry found an opening when he overloaded the Professor's shield with a powerful but low amperage lightning spell. As the man visibly staggered Harry's trailing stunner hit him and he fell to the ground unconscious.

The class was quiet for a moment before they erupted in cheers which died down after Harry woke the professor. The gnarled Auror beamed at Harry as he got up, as though he was glad to have been beaten. He slapped Harry on the back.

"Been too long since I've dueled like that," he said with a gleam in his eye. "A fight," he said, turning to the class. "Is one part reflex and another part knowledge. Reflex takes training and practice, and knowledge takes a lot of study. You can't just learn a few spells and expect to be able to stand toe to toe against a competent assailant. Dueling at the level you just saw takes years of practice, and a detailed knowledge of many branches of magic."

The bell rang.

"Read chapters ten through thirteen and be ready to work very hard next class. Dismissed. Potter, a word," he said as an aside.

They waited as the students filed out, many of them chatting about the duel they had just seen. As Neville walked past, Harry stopped him, "We can practice later if you'd like."

"Oh, right sure," the boy said, somewhat surprised. He left the classroom with the rest of the Gryffindor boys.

"That wasn't exactly what I expected." Moody growled, as the last student left.

Harry shrugged, "I absorb knowledge quickly."

"You held back," the Auror accused. "You could have overpowered me in less than half the time, and you didn't use any of your tricks.

"I could have also done a lot of damage trying to overpower you. I wanted to fight like a wizard would fight, I feel that the best way to learn how to fight someone is to try fighting like they do. It's the best way to learn their limitations and strengths. Besides, I'm not going to show off all of my abilities."

The Auror barked a laugh, "Always have a surprise up your sleeve."

Harry smiled, "Yes well, I have a bit of a surprise for you. I put some thought into what you said about learning to defend from dark curses. At that level, your students are limited to memorization since they can't practice against real dark curses. What if they could practice against a simulation. They could face off against an illusion, they could see their 'opponents' wand movement, spell trails, and hear incantations. But no magic would actually be cast against them. Safe and effective."

The Auror looked at him searchingly. "You could do that?"

Harry held out his hand and an image appeared of a shadow man who cast the Curse of a Thousand Knives. "Doing this myself is easy, but charming a device to do this without me will be difficult. I'll probably consult Professors Flitwick, Babbling, and Vector."

Professor Moody looked at him shrewdly, "For someone who doesn't trust us, you seem to be intent on helping us."

Harry smiled ruefully, "Your society is not at all close to being able to use the knowledge I give my students against me, and the construct I plan on building will only display spells I teach it to, dark spells I wouldn't use in battle." He paused as the professor looked at him shrewdly. "Any luck with your investigation?" Harry asked, changing the subject.

Moody shook his head, "It's been a series of dead ends, I am afraid. It had been too long since your Aunt and your cousin had been obliviated to accurately determine when their blood was harvested. I was able to determine that it was your teacher Miss Teeple who had kept the school assignment that you had written your name on. It took a while to track her down, she moved to the States, but I still have a friend in the Auror department there who helped me track her down. I was able to delve her, the memory spell on her was stronger. The time she encountered the perpetrator matches up with muggle records of a day when she left her school early for a family emergency. No one around her noticed anything, but any competent wizard could have cast spells to accomplish that."

Harry remembered Miss Teeple as the only teacher from his childhood who had seemed to care about him. And though it had led to his current predicament he liked the idea of her keeping some of his old school work. The idea of her being accosted, and her memories violated angered him.

"Do you have any other leads," he asked.

Moody grimaced, "Nothing good. I believe I've identified the ritual that would have been used to tie in your relatives' blood and your name. Corro scales would have been used, and they're pretty rare. I'm tracking down some vendors who might deal in them, but nothing's turned up yet."

Harry wasn't surprised that nothing had turned up, it was already apparent that whoever was behind it all was very good at leaving no trace. But he wondered if a muggle investigation might turn up something more. He rather doubted that a detective from the isolated magical world would think to check security cameras.

Harry left the classroom. Defense had been the last class of the day, and Harry headed towards the Quiditch pitch. He had flown a wide variety of devices in his time, he couldn't decide if the F-302 or the death glider was the most exhilarating, but he had always thought that Sirius's description of a flying broom sounded very thrilling. He had taught himself to fly, propelling himself with magic, but it was difficult. He didn't just have to focus on self propulsion, but also inertial dampeners, and stability control. It was all a rather lot to be thinking about, but it was still fun. A broom though would have all of that built in.

Reaching the pitch, Harry saw several students from various houses standing in a cluster on the pitch, and several students sitting in the stands. Harry noticed that about a quarter of the players were redheads. Harry saw a few of the boys from his dorm in the bleachers and sat down with them, making small talk. The students on the field looked like they were picking teams, and before long they were two distinct teams. Quick charms were applied and they were all distinguishable by either red or blue stripes on their robes.

"The teams are a bit big aren't they?" Harry asked Seamus Finnigan.

"It's not a formal match," the boy said. "They'll have extra chasers or beaters. Have you ever seen a match before?"

"This will be a first for me." Harry said. "I've never even been on a broom before."

"You've never been flying before," said an aghast Dean Thomas. "Oh just wait, we can teach you after the match. You haven't lived till you've flown."

Hermione, who had been reading a large tome to the side cut in with, "I live just fine on the ground."

"Same here," chimed in Neville.

"Oh don't listen to them, flying's the best," said Seamus.

"Oh I've flown quite a lot actually, on several different contraptions, and it is quite exhilarating. But I'm sure flying with a broom will be fun as well."

"They're starting," said Neville.

The players were in the air, several in a tight group that seemed to be moving back and forth across the pitch, occasionally making their way to the goal posts. Harry could see the ball they tossed back and forth between each other, no player allowed to hold onto the quaffle for more than three seconds. Another smaller group was making wide circles around the large group, the crack of the bat sounding out as they bombarded the iron strapped bludgers towards their fellow classmates. Several times the quaffle changed sides, as a player had to dodge the ballistic ball rather than catching the quaffle. Flying higher than the others, two players from both teams flew basic grid patterns in the air, keeping their eyes open for the tinny golden snitch, as well as stray bludgers. Harry consulted the recon drone, never far away, and found the little golden ball hovering below the red teams keeper. Harry wondered at the nonsense of the little golden ball that was worth fifteen times a quaffle goal if caught. Of course, Harry thought, the game itself was a bit bizare when you considered that it was children playing the violent and dangerous game.

"So which team are you rooting for, with both teams filled with Gryffindors?" Harry asked Hermione.

"Neither," said the girl, who kept glancing between her book and the game in front of her.

"I root for Ron to make a lot of saves, Kattie and Jeremy to make a lot of goals, and I hope that the twins do well with out killing anyone, and that Ginny will catch the snitch before she gets bored and tries any risky stunts."

"It is quite a dangerous game, isn't it," commented Harry. "I'm rather surprised they allow you to play." Though he shouldn't expect much from a society that used soul sucking demons to guard a school.

"Ah, it isn't as dangerous as it looks," said Seamus. "There're a couple of prefects in the stands to stop anyone from falling, the bludgers are charmed not to hit you in the head, and really our magic protects us from really bad stuff. The worst injury I've ever seen was when our seeker broke his back his first game. But he was walking around just fine the next day."

"Just fine?" asked Dean, "Morrigan refused to get back on his broom for a week."

"Ah, but he did get back on, didn't he. Caught the snitch our next match too," Seamus replied as the crowd oohed at an impressive last second save by Ron. Admittedly it was one of the few he had managed. The match went on for a good hour, and Harry admitted that he had needed the break. Watching the moves the students made on their brooms, Harry could tell he would really be enjoying a chance to fly one. Of a sudden, three of the seekers shot out towards the middle of the pitch. Then all of them dove down at an ever steepening angle. They kept diving until two of them broke off sharply as the last one continued down, arm outstretched. At the last second she leveled out to the ground, but her broom was unable to completely redirect her downward momentum and a moment later her broom struck the ground and she came tumbling off in a sprawl, skidding along the turf before she came to a halt on her back. The girl held up the golden snitch in her hand.

"Well there she goes again," said Hermione, with more resignation than anything else.

Harry focused in on himself and shot himself down to the girl. Appearing on the pitch, Harry kept his perimeter alarm on alert for the bludgers as he approached Ginny Weasley, who was rising to a seated position.

"Are you all right," he asked needlessly. She very obviously had a dislocated shoulder.

She did a double take when she saw who was asking, but all she said nonchalantly was, "I'm fine," as she tried to get up with her uninjured arm, only to sit back down as her weight settled on her left leg.

Several players touched down next to them. "You OK Gin-Gin," asked one of her brothers.

"I'm fine," she said again, testily.

"Your not fine," said Ron, heatedly. "Your shoulders sticking out funny and you can't get up. Bloody hell, this'll be your third trip to the hospital wing this month. You have to stop taking risks like this."

"I don't have to do anything, and it isn't any of your business how often I go to the Hospital wing."

"It is my business when I'm the one who has to bleedin' well save your life."

At first Ginny's face paled, briefly, before turning bright red. She opened her mouth to say something scathing, but Harry cut her off.

"Actually there's no reason for anyone to go to the infirmary, I can heal you right here."

This time Ginny's angry glare was directed at him, and he was certain the words 'I'm fine' were on the tip of her tongue, but this time she was interrupted by one of the twins.

"You can do that?" asked one of the twins.

"I've been doing it for quite some time actually, healed quite a bit worse too."

"What do you say Gin, let this bloke heal you or let me levitate you to the hospital wing. I'm pretty good with my levitation charms, see?" He flicked his wand and Ron started to bounce up and down.

"Oy," he said.

Ginny tried not to smile as her brother demanded to be put back down. Harry canceled the spell with a thought, drawing stares from everyone around.

"So how about it?" he asked.

"Oh, alright," she agreed. "But if you mess up I'll hex you."

Harry smiled at her, "I'm going to do the arm first, all right." He held out his hands over her shoulder. "I'm going to numb your shoulder, so this is going to feel weird, but it won't hurt," he reassured. Though if she was concerned, she didn't show it.

His hands lit up and he first delved her arm and the joint before interrupting the connection between the nerves in her arm and her brain. With that done he slid the arm back into the socket and healed the tissue inflammation and tearing. That done he moved on to the leg, which had sustained minor damage to the knee, he quickly healed that damage before delving the rest of the her. There were a few bruises that were quickly taken care of, though he wondered afterwards if he should have left them as an incentive to fly more safely. Though judging from the numerous healed injuries he found around her body, he doubted she was deterred by pain. There was something concerning though. Around her brain, and her center of gravity, there was a residue of old magic, something that had been very dark. Wherever it connected to her brain he could see scar tissue. Whatever it had been was gone, but he catalogued the energy and dissipated it. Quickly healing the scar tissue to the point where her brain would be able to repair itself. He would look into it later.

"Alright," he said. A smile back on his face. "I'm going to reconnect your nerves now, it won't hurt but you'll feel a jolt."

Ginny's arm jerked automatically as it reconnected with the rest of her body, and she started moving it around experimentally. She hopped up.

"There, see, I'm fine. Who wants to go again, it's still a while before dinner." She walked over to pick up her broom.

Only a few players though wanted to keep on, and Ginny flew off with them to play catch with the quaffle high above the pitch. Ron watched his sister pensively for a while before turning to Harry.

"Thanks," he said. "Sorry she was so difficult."

"I've had worse patients," Harry said. Jaffa could be very difficult patients, especially enemy Jaffa who had vowed to kill you for their gods.

"So are you going to teach us how to do that?" asked one of the players who had stayed behind. Jordan, Harry recognized him from the mornings class.

"It would take quite some time," Harry said. "You would need in depth knowledge of how the body works on a cellular level. If your interested in healing though, I'm sure your head of house could give you better advice than me."

"Are you ready to try flying now?" asked Dean Thomas. The students who he had been sitting with had made their way to the pitch.

"Oh yes, now would be good. Where should we fly?"

Several of them made their way to a shed at the side of the pitch where the school brooms were stored, discussing the match. Ron did a couple of reenactments of the saves he had made, while one of the twins started juggeling with the beaters bats. Ron pulled out a few brooms from the shed and handed them to Dean, Seamus, and Harry.

"Alright, now let's start at the basics," said Dean.

Harry had already reviewed the basics of flying a broom, but Dean seemed to be enjoying being the teacher so Harry just followed on.

"Lay the broom on the ground, then put your wand hand out over it and say 'up'."

Not really necessary to flying a broom, the exercise was desiged to help beginners get used to commanding a broom, before they actually got on one. Harry held his hand out as instructed, and said in a commanding voice, "up." The wooden handle slapped into his palm and he could feel the magic thrumming through the magical object.

"Good," said Dean, "alright now swing your leg over and concentrate on hovering above the ground."

He went through a few more exercises, Harry following along, while the others were flying about above. As the lesson went on though, Harry started growing more and more eager to let loose and really test the limits of the broom.

"So," said Dean. "You ready to have some fun?"

Harry grinned, "More than ready actually, what did you have in mind?"

Dean whistled very impressively and the dozen flyers above came down to their level.

"Alright you lot, the game's tag, boundaries are the pitch the shed, the change rooms and the tree line, and..." he paused, "Ron's it." He turned around abruptly and flew off.

Ron was not much slower to react, and he quickly tagged one of the other flyers, a girl Harry hadn't met before. The game went on in the relatively confined boundaries, and Harry was having a blast, he couldn't fly as fast as a death glider but he could feel the g-force more, could feel the wind in his hair. And he could pull maneuvers he couldn't even do as a falcon. He did dives and corkscrews, sharp turns and steep ascents. He accelerated fast and turned on a dime. He couldn't help the grin on his face, though he was put out that no one seemed to want to chase after him. Not very good at whistling, he emitted the sound with his power and waited for the flying teens to gather round him.

"Right, this is fun, but let's make this more difficult." He held out his hands and twelve golden orbs shot out and started flying randomly around the boundaries. "Same game, but if you touch an orb you're it. For now though," and he paused as Dean had done, "I'm it." He gave them a moment to process the new rules and they all turned around and flew off, avoiding the randomly flying orbs. Harry took off as well in chase of one of the students. The girl in front of him quickly noticed her tail and dove, twisting quickly around an orb that flew right through Harry. Harry grinned as he flew towards the ground, the feeling of weightlessness both familiar and exhilarating. He quickly changed vectors though when he spotted Seamus speeding by, the boy started flying evasively, he liked banking to the sides before turning, but Harry tagged him when he attempted to do a barrel role not quite successfully. The game continued for a while and Harry had a wonderful time. Eventually though, their stomaches spoke to them and they went inside to the Great Hall for supper.

IIIIIIIII

During the few meetings that they had had, Cedric had always tried to keep the atmosphere friendly, but between the mistrust, their competitive nature, and the dark nature of what they discussed, the meeting of the champions always seemed to take on a hostile tone.

"Why did you not tell us your Headmaster was a Death Eater?" asked Fleur, her eyes narrowed at the surely boy across from her.

"There are rumors about most of our professors," he turned to Harry, "But no rumor has ever said that he vast involved in your var vit Him."

Harry nodded, but Cedric wasn't done with the revelations that his father had dug up for him.

"That's not all though, it turns out he went free after he named names. He cut a deal for testimony. But he isn't the only one." He looked nervous about what he was about to say. "My father told me that Professor Snape was a Death Eater. He got arrested after the war, but Dumbledore vouched for him, said he was spying on You-Know-Who for him."

"Ah but vast he a spy vhen he joined, or vast he turned later."

"Well I don't think Professor Dumbledore would let him teach here if he had ever _really _been a Death Eater," Cedric said.

"Well in the end it could be either of them behind this or both," said Harry.

"Or someone in hiding," grumbled Cedric. Harry had relayed the theory that since everyone had been cleared by the Aurors, that there might be a person successfully hiding in the school.

"Or someone in hiding," agreed Harry. "But for now, we have two people with ties to Voldemort. But if they're both supposed to have betrayed the guy I doubt either one of them is helping him right now."

"Eef you can change sides once, you can change sides again," said Fleur.

Harry shook his head, "They'd need a compelling reason to do it though. From what I've read about Voldemort, the guy isn't about to just forget that these guys betrayed him, even if they help him now, they've got to know that once they aren't useful to him, they'll be used to make an example of what happens to traitors. Besides, if Voldemort is living as a weakened shadow of what he once was, neither one of them would have a reason to seek him out. As he is now, he doesn't have anything to offer them."

"Also neither of them were connected to Mr. Crouch," supplied Cedric.

"Do you say ve should forget about them," asked Victor.

"Of course not," said Cedric.

"We'll keep an eye on them, but I don't think we'll find anything," said Harry.

"How is your search going," asked Cedric.

With the reconnaissance drone's map of the school, and all of it's nooks, crannies, and magically hidden spots, Harry had been searching for any sign of an infiltrator living within the school. He had left magical monitors that would let him know if anyone came through any of the secret passages that led off of the grounds. So far though, only a couple of students had gone through.

"I've found many old relics, countless secret passageways, lots of adolescent loot, and a few rooms that have been used as hang-out spots at some point in the past." Harry's face reddened briefly as he remembered one room that had clearly been set up by a student to be put to a use that would have sent any teacher to assigning detentions and taking points. "But I haven't found anything of real interest yet." He had been reluctant to search some areas with particularly anomalous readings from the drone, including the massive chamber under the school. He would need to gather more information before he did.

"Ees that all?" asked Fleur.

Harry was distracted momentarily as his hand device picked up the presence of the Libertas. His ship had crossed the boundary of the school wards.

"Yes, that's everything for now. Keep your eyes open and don't trust anyone you don't have to." With that he bade them farewell and left. He quickly made his way to the grounds where he shot himself to where his ship was hovering, cloaked. He quickly cast charms that would prevent any wayward flyers from flying into the ship and with a mental command, he beamed himself up to a conduit under the ship and materialized on the bridge of his ship, where he was immediately pounced upon by a very large black dog. After a moment of roughhousing, Harry became aware that they had an audience.

"Greetings Nol," he said, while standing up with as much dignity as he could muster.

"Greetings Harry," Nol Aalon said, a small smile tugging at his lips.

Harry heard a pop next to him as Sirius transformed back into himself. "I hope your journey wasn't too trying with this mongrel your only company."

"Hey," said Sirius, while reaching over to muss up Harry's hair. "I'll have you know I was excellent company this past week."

"He did prove, in his own unique way, to be a good traveling companion. We had fascinating conversations on some of the experiments he has been performing of late. Shall we convene in your laboratory."

"Oh no, not so fast," broke in Sirius. "We have some catching up to do."

Harry smiled, "Come on, we can talk on the way to the lab." They started walking off of the bridge. "How was your journey?" he asked.

"Well I must say, Atlantis was spectacular, it was a shame I couldn't sight see a bit, but I got a good view as we flew away."

"Tell you what, when I get out of here I'll take you for a tour of the place." He paused in his tracks and put out a hand to stop Nol. He gave Sirius a playful glare as he dissipated the magical booby-trap in front of him.

Sirius gave him a cheeky grin, "One down, two hundred and three to go."

"You can't be serious."

"Your right, I'm an imposter, my real name is Mal'ac," he said quoting a name from a Jaffa legend.

At another glare he just smiled and said, "They aren't all magical either. So don't think you can wave them all away."

Harry sighed and they continued on their way.

"So how are you doing as a teacher?" Sirius asked.

"You are teaching?" Nol asked. "What is it that you are teaching?" There was a note of concern in his voice.

"Just physics, Nol. Nothing they could blow up their planet with, not enough to do much with really. But enough to make them question what they understand about the universe, and to give them the desire to learn more. These people have cloistered themselves away from the rest of the planet, and they've ignored the technological and sociopolitical advances that have been made. I'd like to give them a taste of what they could do if they knew more. If they were willing to learn more."

Nol didn't look like his concerns had been completely allayed, but he didn't pursue the matter further.

Harry turned back to Sirius, "But the classes are going well, I've got about a third of the school in attendance, and a few professors have been making appearances. I'm working the scientific method into the lessons right now."

They reached the lab, and a comically large pie hit Harry's shield a moment after he opened the door. Sirius scowled at the splatter on his tunic.

Sitting at a work table, Harry connected with the ship and uploaded the information he had gathered and set the computer to processing the data. He looked around himself and smiled, it was good to be back in familiar settings. Like the rest of his ship, the lab was not decorated in a traditional fashion. Between the polished hardwood floors, the granite countertops, and the wooden cabinets, the room looked more like a kitchen than a laboratory, if you could ignore the lab equipment strewn about.

"What else have you been up to?" Sirius asked.

"Oh, I went flying on a broom," Harry said.

"What is a broom?" Nol asked.

"Basically it's a wooden rod with hundreds of bristles tied to an end used to sweep dirt. Wizards charm them so they can fly on them." Harry explained.

"Why would anyone use such a construct for flight?" asked Nol. "The shape would not be conducive to controlled flight with a rider."

"Magic makes up for that," Sirius said. "Don't know how that started though."

The ship's computer alerted him that it had finished processing the data, and Harry pulled it up onto a holographic projection in front of himself and Nol. He frowned at the complex readings.

"The connection from the curse scar is much more pronounced than it was previously," observed Nol. "Have you considered the implications that arise from these readings?" he asked.

Harry didn't answer right away.

"What implications?" asked Sirius.

Nol looked to Harry, and Harry spoke up. "The link seems to be wrapped around something that the sensor can't pick up. My best theory is that it's wrapped around my soul."

Nol nodded and said, "That is a possibility," though the Tollans had never been big on concepts as intangible as the soul.

Sirius looked disturbed, "Can you remove it?"

Harry looked to Nol, the same question on his mind.

"It may be possible, but it would take considerable time to properly investigate the matter."

Harry nodded, "We shouldn't even be worrying about this right now. What can you tell me about the link that's keeping me here."

Nol considered the data that the computer had rendered. "A few lines of investigation occur to me, but they all will take time to evaluate and test. I'm sure you have been able to tell that even should we discover how to sever this link, that doing so straight out could prove dangerous to you."

"I have, said Harry. He shook his head, "This would be so much easier if I had access to the goblet. I could probably figure out how to trick it into thinking the tournament was over."

"Where is the device now?" asked Nol.

"They have it in their Capital building, under lock and key."

"Ah," said Sirius. "Perhaps I could manage to break in, I seem to be quite good at it."

"I'm sure you are," said Harry. "But you aren't going near there. You may recall they want to kill you on sight." He turned to Nol, "Where do you want to start?"

"With all due respect, Harry, this matter is far beyond your level of education."

"You could always teach me more," Harry said with a cheeky grin. He knew the Tollans wouldn't budge on the matter.

Nol ignored the comment, "I will formulate a way to proceed, I will likely need your assistance with tests in the future, but for now I will be working alone."

Harry nodded, he didn't like it, but he knew he wouldn't be able to help much. "Right," he said. "Well I have another project to work on in the mean time."

He and Sirius went to a separate work station, and while Harry uploaded and started analyzing the scans he had made of the dementors, he told Sirius more about what had been happening at the school. He talked about the pranks that had been pulled, and the lessons he had taken part in. He showed Sirius the curse simulator he was working on and told him about the meetings he had had with the other champions.

"So there are two of these 'Death Eaters' in the castle, but you don't think either one of them are involved?"

Harry nodded, "That seems to be what the evidence would suggest, we'll keep an eye on them though. But I have another avenue for investigation. Apparently whoever put my name in the cup, had torn it off of one of my old school assignments that my teacher Miss Teeple had kept. She's been memory charmed, but the Auror who investigated was able to determine when the charm was used, and it matches a day she left the school unexpectedly. The Auror hit a dead end there, but I doubt he would have thought to check security cameras. I was hoping you could pop over to the SGC and ask them to look into it."

"I'll go when it's morning over there," Sirius agreed. "How did your lesson with Mr. Lupin go?"

"I'm having trouble choosing an appropriate memory, but I'll get it. He's coming back this evening though." He paused and looked at the data in front of him.

"What is it?" asked Sirius.

Harry thought for a moment, "When I scanned the dementor, the Headmaster's Patronus was there keeping the dementor at bay. The patronus seems to emit a particle wave that destabilizes the energy matrix that makes up the dementor, but the matrix is self-repairing. The dementor gets chased away, but it doesn't actually sustain any lasting damage."

"So does that mean they're indestructible?" Sirius asked.

"No," Harry replied, shaking his head. "I just need to inhibit their ability to repair themselves."

"How are you going to do that?" Sirius asked.

Harry smiled, "I don't know yet. But I'm confident I can figure it out. The question is, how do I manage to get them all at once?"

"Why all at once?"

"I don't want to underestimate these people. If I start picking off dementors right and left, I don't want to see if they would be able to hide them from me, or figure out how to protect them from me."

"Well I suppose the first step would be to be able to locate them all, do you even know how many there are?"

"There is no official number, the Ministry keeps that under wraps, but the general concensus is that there's about four hundred of them. Fifty guarding the castle, three hundred guarding Azkaban, twenty in their Capital building and about thirty on loan to other magical governments around the continent."

"If they're indestructible I'm surprised there aren't more of them."

"It takes quite a lot to create one, a lot of turmoil. In the past century it's believed that only two were created, when all of magical Europe was at war."

Sirius thought for a moment, and after a moment they were both bouncing ideas off of each other. They were still talking when Harry went to the kitchen to fix supper.

IIIIIIII

"That was some article in the prophet, there's been quite a lot of uproar over it. It must have been some interview you gave."

Harry and Remus were walking up to the castle from the main gate where Remus had just come in.

"Oh I just gave her a few facts and quotes, she dug up most of that on her own." He laughed, "Once I pointed her in the right direction she went at it zealously. I really have no idea how she managed to get half of what's in there but I'm glad she did."

The two page article, titled 'Missing Justice: a Rita Skeeter Exclusive' had come out in the Sunday edition the day before.

"What have you been hearing out there, how are people reacting?"

"Well it wasn't exactly publicized at the time that people were going to Azkaban without trial. Though you probably know it from the article, trials aren't really a public affair, they rarely allow reporters inside. People just have to trust that a proper investigation was done, and that a fair trial proceeded. Sirius got neither and many people are very upset about that, though not all of them are willing to accept his innocence, but there's a lot of skepticism towards the Ministries findings during the recent investigation of … Peter's body."

"Well it would really help if there was more transparency in your government." Harry said.

Remus nodded, "There are those calling for trials to be made public, there's even talk in the Wizengammot. Of course this is all what's happened in the day since the article came out. Who can say where people will stand when the uproar dies down."

"Is anyone calling for Sirius' death warrant to be revoked?" Harry asked.

"Some are," said Remus. "But it's too soon to say what's going on within the Ministry right now. The minister has a reputation for digging his heels in."

"Well then maybe people should be calling for a new minister."

"We'll see, perhaps he'll see sense. He has always been concerned with how the public perceives him though. How is Sirius?"

"He's well, I wish the two of you could meet," Harry said. Sirius had always felt the loss of his past, he needed a chance to connect with it.

"You still do not trust me," Remus said, more a statement than anything.

"I've only got one Godfather," Harry said. "I don't think he should take any risks when there are soul sucking demons flying about."

"Is he of the same mind?" Remus asked.

It had come up the night before, Sirius did want to meet the man. But Harry was about as adamant about protecting Sirius as Sirius was about protecting him.

"Sirius has agreed to stay out of sight for the time being," Harry said.

They had reached the unused classroom that they were using.

"Do you have a new memory?" Remus asked.

"I do," Harry said. It had been before his search for the Sangraal. He had come upon a planet with some Ancient ruins beside which a village had sprung up. He had spent the day combing the ruins with some of the village youth for guides. That evening, as was his practice, he spent some time healing in the village square. The one person who stood out was the young boy who had come to him with a crippled leg, but when he had started delving the boy further he found a congenital heart defect that would have killed him in a matter of years. It had been easily healed and the boy had run off on his newly healed leg none the wiser. After dinner that evening with the town elders, Harry had been about to ring back up to his ship when he had spotted the boy playing with others on the village green, and in that moment he had felt very much at peace with himself and he had ringed himself up with a smile on his face.

There were other memories like it but that one had stood out to him.

"Alright," said Mr. Lupin. "Now, before you try casting, I want you to stop and think about the memory. Don't just remember the event, put yourself there, don't remember the happiness, feel it. Let it fill you. Don't worry about the wand work, you have that down. Focus on the memory and when you're ready, cast."

Harry closed his eyes and thought about the memory, the joy he saw on others faces as they realized that there was no more pain, that they could use their hands, could see as they could when they were young. He saw the boy laughing as he ran across the field with his friends, and his heart leapt as he thought of another life saved without violence. "Expecto Patronum," he called out, his wand making the precise movements.

He heard Remus gasp and he opened his eyes to see what the man was seeing. The silvery shape vanished as his wand fell out of his hand. He took a gasping breath that he held onto before letting out slowly.

"That was not a snake, was it," Remus said.

"No," said Harry, distracted. "I must have done something wrong."

"I've seen something like that before," Remus said, almost off hand. "It was in a very old drawing from ancient Egypt, supposedly, one of the forms their gods took." The statement had a question in it.

Harry laughed darkly, "Isis was no god." He sat down at one of the desks. "My patronus is supposed to represent me somehow, but all of the literature has suggested that the animal should take a form that either represents character or protection for the caster. Why should mine be that monster." There was no doubt in his mind that it was Isis that was projected in the spell.

"Expecto Patronum," called out the professor. Harry looked up at the great silvery wolf that had appeared in the classroom. "When I was a boy," the man started. "I was mauled by a wolf, quite severely. It would be an understatement to say that I was upset when I first saw my patronus, but I came to realize in time that it was a reminder, that however I had been scarred, I had survived. It is a reminder that the dementors can't hurt me any more than I have been hurt before."

Harry sighed, Isis had been the worst thing that had ever happened to him, but everything he was stemmed from the day he had been taken. Isis wasn't just the demon from his past, Harry's defeat of Isis had been the defining moment of his life. Isis was his worst memory, and his victory. But none of it mattered, because Harry wasn't going to let Isis take anything from him him ever again. He cleared his mind of thoughts of Isis and went back to his memory. He let it wash over him, felt the emotion and cast the spell, his wand still laying on the floor. He opened his eyes once more and stared at his patronus in front of him. Isis floated about the room, it's body swaying as it moved. He kept his memory in the front of his mind, not letting the sight in front of him affect the spell.

"Very good, Harry," Remus said, as Harry let the spell dissipate. I don't think I have to tell you that people don't usually get this far so quickly." He looked at Harry's pensive face and said, "Why don't we leave it here for today. Next time I come we can try with one of the dementors guarding the gate. Until then, I want you to spend time every day summoning your memory and the feelings associated with it. You should be able to put yourself in the right frame of mind at a moments notice."

Harry nodded, really, he told himself, he was upset over nothing. Isis was behind him, he had been for a while. He was letting ghosts from his past haunt him. He put a smile on his face, "It's a bit early, but would you care to join me for lunch in the great hall?"

"Of course," Remus said.

As they walked out the door, Harry thought about what Remus had said earlier, he mentally checked some references about the war and wizarding society.

"You said that during the war you had been an envoy to certain groups, was it to Werewolf communities?" he asked.

Remus's eyebrows shot up for a moment, "You're very intuitive," he said. They walked in silence for a moment.

"For most werewolves, our biggest fear is that we will pass our disease on to someone else. But there have been many who have lost their way after decades of prejudice and ever harsher laws passed by the Ministry. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named made a lot of promises during the war, and while most were smart enough to see that pureblood prejudice and half breed tolerance have never gone hand in hand, there were some of them who joined, if only for the hope that they would have a place in the new world order he spoke of. I tried to keep as many from joining as I could during the war. One man though, didn't need any promises, he just wanted to cause pain. Fenrir Greyback, had had an altercation with my father in Diagon Alley one day when I was a boy, so he tracked down our home and on the night of the next full moon he waited outside. I was young enough not to see the danger in going outside to see the doggy howling outside my window."

"Whatever happened to him?" Harry asked.

Remus sighed, "He disappeared after the war, there are rumors here and there of a man going around telling others that they should embrace the wolf inside, that we should allow ourselves to hunt on the full moon and grow our numbers."

Harry wondered what Sirius would think if he added curing lycanthropy to his list of things to do. They entered the great hall, where very few people had yet shown up to eat. Remus changed the subject as they neared others, and they spent the rest of his visit discussing the politics of Wizarding Britain.

IIIIIIII

"The connection has formed," Harry said. Nol nodded at his sensors confirmation.

On the work table in front of them a biological analogue had been linked via subspace to a charmed inanimate object, in this case a small metal weight. It was not as complex a link as the one connected to Harry, but it mimicked many of the identifiable matrices and held an enormous amount of power.

Harry understood little of what the experiment entailed, in large part because Nol was forbidden to violate his educational cap, but he had been needed to help set up the experiment.

"The protective barrier is in place," Nol said.

"Ready to go?" Harry asked.

Nol nodded, and Harry grabbed his shoulder and shot them into the ships relay and ringed down to the grounds of Hogwarts. Sirius had been dropped off in Hogsmead the hour before and was making a report at the SGC. With the two of them off of the ship, the Libertas flew high up into the stratosphere where the test chamber would temporarily be detached from the ship during the experiment.

They waited for about five minutes before Harry scowled. "The test chamber was destroyed."

"Was any data collected?" Nol asked.

"The equipment was destroyed about three point seven nano seconds in to the experiment," Harry replied. "But it's a lot of data."

Nol looked around himself at the school and the grounds. It was the first time he had been off the ship since his arrival a week ago. He wore a device Harry had put together to keep him from being affected by the wards of the school while outside of the shields of the ship.

This was their second experiment, the first had been relatively easy. Reasoning that the link was to the cup and not to the school, they had tried to block any information traveling through subspace that would let the cup know when Harry tried to leave the boundary. But the data, traveling along the powerful link was not inhibited by the dampening field that Nol had erected around Harry and he had been held back as he had tried to cross over. Of course it wouldn't have been very practical to block all subspace communications around himself till the end of the tournament.

"It is quite nice here," Nol commented.

"It is," Harry agreed. "I seem to recall that Tonaan had invited you to join him as he catalogued the fauna surrounding the Lamaal province. Did you ever go?"

Nol had an appreciation for the natural untamed areas of Tollana, but he was very much a workaholic, and Harry hoped he had taken some time off.

"I did," Nol said. "However I did not stay as long as I might have liked. Telloran Marn developed a means by which to stabilize an atom with two hundred and fifteen protons and electrons, and there was much to discover."

Harry whistled appreciatively at the implications of the discovery, and looked up as the Libertas arrived back at their location. He grabbed on to Nol and beamed them both up to the ship.

After letting Nol peruse the data for a while Harry asked, "So are we back to the drawing board?"

"More testing will tell. I will work on developing a new experiment."

Harry sighed and bid Nol farewell so he could focus on his work.

IIIIIIIIII

"I think some potions ingredients have gone missing, and not just a little bit, a whole lot of several ingredients disappeared over night. Professor Snape was practically murderous during all of his classes today." Cedric was finishing his report.

"Vhat has been taken," asked Viktor.

Cedric shrugged, "Professor Snape certainly isn't saying, though he's pulled several students into his office for interrogation." He looked very sympathetic in regards to the students under scrutiny.

"Well we can all keep our ears open and see if we can find out what it was. Of course it could just be a student mixing up an illicit brew. Was there anything else?"

Krum gave Delacour a significant look, and she laughed, the sound melodious.

"I ave been aware zat you know, so I wanted to know eef you would say anything."

Victor rolled his eyes. "The first task, we must get past dragons, mother dragons guarding their nest."

"How did you two find out?" Harry asked. The Libertas had picked up their arrival, and he had been going to end the meeting with the news.

"Karkarof told me." Krum said. He hadn't referred to his headmaster by his title since he had found out about his past.

"Madame Maxime told me," Fleur said.

"That's cheating," Cedric sounded slightly disillusioned.

"Yes, well now we are all on the same footing," Harry said. "Do we know what breed of dragon we will be facing?"

"Hungarian Horntail," said Krum, "Chinese Fireball, Velsh Green, and a Sveedish Short-Snout."

Harry pulled out a few sheets of parchment. "Just a moment," he said. He accessed every bit of information he had on dragons and those breeds and printed the pertinent information onto the sheets.

"Alright," he said, "Let's figure out how we'll handle this." He passed out the information.

IIIIIII

"Is everything prepared, you will be ready?"

"Yes my Lord. I have watched the boy, he is more than suited for the task, he will play right in, I will see to it."

A/N:Now I know what's going through all of your minds. Some of you are saying, Yes, Harry/Ginny. Others are saying, *sigh*, another Harry/Ginny. And still more of you are saying, NOOOOOOOO, Harry/Ginny, WHYYYYYYYY.

Well guess what, this story isn't going to be Harry/Ginny. Harry's going to be exploring his adolescence and there will be a myriad of girls but I'm not planning on giving him a girlfriend.


	9. 08 The First Task

A/N: Althor42 is about ready to start uploading his new story, I've beta'd the first few chapters, and it looks great. I can't wait to see how you all like it.

Disclaimer: Please do not try anything you are about to read, at home. Harry Potter is a highly skilled professional with years of experience.

Oh, wait, wrong disclaimer. Don't own it- Wish I did- Not making any money off of this.

The First Task

"Patronund Draconis" Victor called out, the large shield flared out in front of him. Moments later, a metal ball passed through the shield and it collapsed leaving the Bulgarian student with a scowl on his face. Harry summoned the ball back to him.

"You were about a degree too low," he said, pantomiming the second wand movement of the incantation. Learning the shield that protected them from dragon's fire had been complex but straight forward. However, shields that could protect from a physical attack from a dragon were much more difficult. The hide of a dragon was imbued with a magical field that disrupted a lot of the spells that might be used against one. A swipe from a dragons tail could simply pass through most shields. However, a trick used by most dragon handlers involved delving the dragon from a safe distance and matching the shield to a dragon's particular energy matrix. Harry had easily scanned the dragons and was now teaching the other champions to block all four of them. Four steel ball bearings Harry had created, mimicked each of the four dragons' magical fields.

"Try the Welsh Green this time."

Victor called out the incantation, and once more the shield formed in front of him. Harry tossed the ball that represented that dragon at the shield and smiled as it bounced off. Victor grinned, looking pleased with himself, but Fleur picked up another of the balls and threw it at the shield, it collapsed and the ball hit the older boy in the stomach. Victor staggered, though more from the collapse of his shield than the impact to his midsection, the athlete was built like a brick.

"Do you tire of the exercise?" Victor asked her.

She did look tired, they all did, they had spent the last few hours having their shields broken, again and again.

"I grow tired of wasting my time. Zese shields are only part of what we need. Per'aps zey would protect us long enough for us to seemply walk up and take zese eggs, if we are strong enough. But if ve all use ze same shields, ze same tactics, zey will know we are working together, and I do not think zat I want whoever is plotting against you to be plotting against me as well," she finished, looking at Harry.

Harry nodded, "You're right, we need to make sure no one knows we're working together. I take it you have some idea of what you want to do."

"I vill charm it to sleep."

"You found a spell that can put it to sleep?" Cedric asked. "It would have to be pretty powerful to get through it's hide."

"It is not a spell she vill use, I do not think." said Victor

"I did not think your abilities to enchant would be so powerful two generations down the line," Harry said, thinking about her Veela grandmother.

Of a sudden his eyes were drawn to Fleur's. He had always known she was beautiful, but how could he have ever turned away from such flawless perfection? He desired more than anything that the smile on her face would never disappear while her face was turned to his. More than that, he desired her. He wanted to touch her, to hold her. He felt a stirring in his gut like he had just jumped off of a ledge, and he noticed absently that he had stood up. Fantasies started playing in his head. Suddenly his mind caught up with what he was thinking. Something was wrong, he couldn't think. Something was in his head, he couldn't think of what, he just had to push it out. He fell to his knees, his concentration was shot, but he had to push it out. Whatever was in his head could hurt her, could make him hurt her, he had to stop it.

"Stop it," an angry voice cut through the haze, and his mind became clear. He could still feel his desire, but he could view it rationally for what it was. He stood up slowly, but sat back down in his chair in embarrassment. He did not understand how a Veela's powers worked, but he tried to layer as much protection around himself as he could while he looked about the room, it looked like only a moment had really passed, though it had seemed much longer. Cedric looked worried, glancing about the rest of them. Victor was scowling at Fleur, and Fleur, he had to force himself to look at her in spite of the images that propagated in his mind at the sight of her, Fleur looked apologetic, and embarrassed.

"This is my head," Harry said, with more composure than he felt. "You have no right being in here. I will not be controlled, I will not be possessed. Do you understand?"

She looked away, nodding her head stiffly.

Harry took a breath to compose himself. "Are you sure that it will work on a dragon?" he asked.

"Eet works on a variety of magical creatures."

"But do you know that it works on dragons?"

She shook her head.

"I'll take you tonight, when their handlers are asleep you can try your trick on one of them. Cedric, what about you?"

"I thought it would be best to distract it, give it something else to chase after."

"Like vhat?" Victor asked.

Cedric pointed his wand at a desk in the corner and said an incantation. Before their eyes the desk turned into a dog, which proceeded to do tricks at the behest of Cedric's wand.

"I figure I'll have this guy get close enough to the nest to get the dragon's attention and then have him draw it off."

"Do you have anything else up your sleeve?" he asked the older boy.

"If that doesn't distract it, I figure I can make a few birds to fly around it's head while I make a run for it. I can use the shields if it still notices me."

Harry referenced the library and waved his hand over a piece of parchment which he handed to Cedric. "Let's make sure it doesn't notice you. The spell on top will mask the smell of you, the next one makes you silent, the last one is a notice me not. It won't be perfect, but if it's distracted already it shouldn't be able to notice you."

Cedric looked over the list nodding. "With this I shouldn't need the shields at all. So what about you?" he asked Victor. "How are you going to get your egg?"

Victor looked reluctant to reveal what he would do, but he uncrossed his arms and said, "I vill hit it vith a conjunctivitis curse in it's eye. That will be my distraction."

"You plan to eenjure eet, send eet thrashing about, and 'ope eet does not step on you while you run towards eet and eets nest."

"Perhaps that can be plan B, yeah?" said Cedric.

"Vhat do you propose zhen."

"You could summon your 'eadmaster, he would be a good distraction for the dragon. And eef 'e does not survive, zhen we can stop worrying about whezer 'e is behind thees plot." She said it as a joke, but there was a dark glint behind her eyes.

Cedric chuckled, "Maybe summon Professor Snape while you're at it, though I can't imagine the dragon coming out of that one in one piece."

"Vell vhile I do that, vhy don't I just transfigure the ground around it into arms to grab ahold of it, or maybe I could confund it to think that I am a lion and it is a mouse, no?"

Cedric laughed at this, but Harry thought. He referenced the library again.

"What if instead of transfiguring the ground, you burrow through it, take the egg from under it's nose." He copied a few spells on to another piece of parchment. The excavation spell reminded him of how Tok'Ra tunnels were grown.

"There are spells for that?" Cedric asked.

"I doubt anyone digs tunnels by hand in the wizarding world," Harry responded.

Victor was looking over the spells, nodding his head.

"Excellent," Harry said. "Is there anything to report?"

"I have ze leest of what was stollen from ze potions cupboard," Fleur announced. She pulled a piece of parchment out of her bag, which was passed around. It was a long list, and many ingredients had large quantities missing.

"How did you get this?" asked Victor.

"I 'ave made friends wiz ze boy who catalogues ze professor's stores. According to 'im, there are no good leads, though 'e says that there are two students," she searched for a word. "Jokers, who zhe Professor suspects. Though it seems 'e also suspects you." she said looking at Harry.

"What makes him think that?" Harry asked.

"Well come on, Professor Snape is a powerful wizard," Cedric said. "I doubt there are many other people in the school who could have broken in and gotten away with it."

Harry shook his head, thinking about the man, he was still a mystery. He looked at the list, inputting the data into his computer. There was no potion that was listed in the library that used all of the ingredients, but there were several that used some, about five hundred potions could be made using a combination of the ingredients. Several of them were poisonous or destructive, but very few that would be very practical during an attack. Of course this assumed that the perpetrator didn't have other ingredients procured elsewhere, and there was no evidence that it wasn't something completely unrelated to Harry.

Harry consulted the time, he needed to meet with the headmaster.

"Right," he said. "The tournament is in three days, we do not know what might happen between now and then so keep your eyes open and be ready for anything." He stood up to go. "Fleur, ten o' clock tonight outside your carriage."

As he walked out the door, he noticed that Cedric had followed him, he dropped into pace next to Harry, and as the door behind them was closing he could hear Victor and Fleur arguing in their respective native tongues.

"You're not the first bloke, you know, to act the fool because of a Veela's powers. They had Veela mascots at the Quiditch World Cup this Summer, you should have seen everyone going spare over them."

"Oh, and how did you react?" Harry asked.

Cedric grinned, "I called out to them at the top of my lungs that I was a quiditch star being scouted by the Puddlemore team. There may also have been some flexing and posing involved."

Harry appreciated the boy trying to make him feel better, though it wasn't embarrassment he was upset over.

"There was a period of my life," he said. "When the only thing I had was my own mind, I didn't even know about my magic yet, not really. My mind is my biggest tool, my best weapon, I am nothing without it. The feeling of something foreign influencing it, controlling it is like feeling my heart stop beating."

Cedric nodded, "Well I don't think she meant anything by it, I think she just wanted to show off a bit. You know it really is rather odd. There we were chosen as champions, the best and brightest from our schools, destined for glory, and then you popped out of nowhere. Whatever she said in the beginning, it's become sort of obvious that you could win this tournament without even trying. I think she wanted to show you that she has tricks of her own up her sleeve."

"Yes, well, she can worry about glory later, and she can impress me by using her brain instead of forgetting she has one."

"Will you be alright, visiting the dragons with her tonight, I could come along."

"I'll be fine, I'm sure. I doubt she will try anything, and I've dealt with situations far more awkward."

"I also figure I'd rather not see the dragons for the first time when I have to face one."

Harry laughed, "Come on then, you know when and where?"

Cedric nodded.

"Right, see you tonight then."

They had reached the Headmasters office.

"See you."

Harry beamed himself up to the landing outside the Headmasters office.

"Come in Harry."

Harry walked in and sat opposite the Headmaster, accepting a few of the offered lemon flavored candies. He waved his hand, and an image of a man appeared over the desk between them. The Headmaster studied the image for a moment, though if he recognized the man in the picture, he gave no sign of it. He turned back to Harry before asking, "Where did this image come from, Harry?"

"It's from a security camera in the parking lot of the school where my former teacher, Mrs. Teeple, works." He waved his hand again and the image changed, as though a camera were zooming out. The man was standing in a parking lot next to a woman getting into her car, a large knife visible in his hands.

"The timestamp corresponds with the Aurors' estimation of when she was obliviated."

"The dead are intent on making an appearance where you are concerned, it would seem," said the Headmaster. "I have not seen that face since he was sentenced to die in Azkaban Prison, which he reportedly did only a few years later. This may answer why Barty Crouch was killed. That is his son, Bartimus Crouch Jr."

"You think he killed his father?" Harry asked.

"It was his father who sentenced him to Azkaban," the Headmaster spoke gravely. "He had been caught, along with other death eaters, after torturing two Aurors for information a week after the downfall of Voldemort."

"What can you tell me about him?"

Dumbledore sighed, "He was a brilliant student, very focused on being the best. He focused on Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts. He was also very good at hiding his allegiances, no one suspected him until he was caught in the act. He had worked in the ministry after his graduation."

"If he escaped so many years ago, why is he just surfacing now? Why wait so long to kill his father?

"I suspect," said Dumbledore. "That we shall know more once the body buried at Azkaban has been examined. As well as the body of his mother, I should think."

"His mother?"

"His mother died not long after he is supposed to have. She had been terribly ill before then."

A thought occurred to Harry, he gave instructions to the reconnaissance drone and to his ship. "Will you be going to Azkaban, to view the body? Crouch's involvement will help convince others that Sirius isn't part of this, and I wouldn't want to give the Ministry an opportunity to cover this up."

"I will," the Headmaster agreed. "I am curious though, how you obtained this video when you have been constrained as you are?"

"You are aware that I have contacts in the States."

"Yes," the Headmaster said. "In their military. How much have you been telling them."

"Not much that they haven't already reasoned out. They already knew about my powers, and your own indiscreet search was enough for them to reason that there was a society of people with abilities living in secret among them. Speaking of secrets though, were you going to tell me that Severus Snape and Igor Karkarof are known Death Eaters?"

"I was not planning on doing so, no. Igor has been under observation the entire time he has been here, and I trust Professor Snape implicitly."

"Because he was your spy?"

"Because he has proven himself to me," was all the Headmaster said, with a note of finality.

Harry's first urge was to press the matter; regardless of what the Headmaster had thought, he shouldn't have kept it a secret. Considering the deception that Harry was planning, though, he felt it would be a tad hypocritical.

"Has Professor Snape determined the likely purpose of the potions ingredients stollen?"

The Headmaster shook his head gravely. "Professor Snape believes that several ingredients were stollen solely to hide the true intent. I trust that I need not tell you that it is likely that something is planned for the first task."

"I am well prepared Headmaster. I plan to finish my task before anyone has time to try anything."

"I feel that I should tell you that the first task..."

"Yes, I know, dragons. As I said, I am well prepared."

The Headmaster did not appear surprised to find that Harry knew.

"You should know that I have been searching the castle for wherever Crouch might be hiding, assuming he does not just come and go through your tunnel system."

"The tunnels are being monitored," said the Headmaster.

Harry wondered why none of the wayward students who used them had been caught.

"I have cleared most of the castle, but there are a couple of locations that I have been reluctant to search without more information." A large holographic projection of the castle appeared on the desk in front of them. "Here is one of them," Harry said pointing at a highlighted portion of the castle. "Physically the actual space taken up by the room fluctuates now and then, and most of the time it seems to not exist, as well, the area is super saturated with magic."

The Headmaster smiled, "I have come across this room. It is quite safe as far as I know. The room appears when one who needs it is in front of it, and it fills itself with what is needed. It may be, however, that should someone hide in there, the room would not appear until that person leaves. You said there was another location that gave you pause?"

"Yes," Harry said. "There is a rather large chamber located beneath the great lake and the dungeons. It connects through a narrow pipe, magically enlarged on the inside, to a bathroom on the third floor corridor. The entrance appears to be heavily warded, and recently too, I would say about two years ago."

The Headmaster looked grave, "That, Harry, would be the Chamber of Secrets. The history of the chamber is long and mostly shrouded in mystery, but not long after the founding of this school, Salazar Slytherine created the chamber in secret, and placed a beast within it that would answer to his heir. He intended that it would be used some day to cleans the school of muggleborns."

"Why the recent warding?" Harry asked.

"The chamber had been opened fifty years ago by Voldemort, though he was called Tom Riddle then. There were attacks up until we were about to close the school, when they stopped. We never found the entrance. Two years ago Voldemort possessed one of my students, and opened the chamber once more. Two of our students determined the location of the chamber, and the student who was possessed was saved."

"Did you determine what was in the chamber?"

"A Basilisk," the Headmaster replied. "A skilled ward breaker may have been able to enter and exit the chamber through my wards, but not without my detection. I do not believe that you will find anyone in the Chamber of Secrets."

Harry received a confirmation from the drone. He nodded, "When will you be visiting Azkaban?" he asked.

"I will leave for the ministry when we are finished here, if I am to exhume a body on Azkaban I must go through Madame Bones."

Harry smiled, "Well I see no need to delay you then." Unobtrusively, he put his hand down by his side, where the drone, cloaked, waited. He palmed the small device it had brought him. He stood up, holding out his hand for the Headmaster to shake. "I hope your visit is not too unpleasant." He grasped the man's forearm as they shook hands.

The Headmaster smiled knowingly at Harry. "I trust that thoughts of the fruits of my journey shall bolster me while I am there."

Harry had, once more, the feeling that the Headmaster knew exactly what was going on.

IIIIIIIIII

"Are you all right?" Harry asked one of the Weasley twins. He had come across the boy walking through the hall, and he had a slight dazed look.

He shook his head, "Nah, I'm fine, just lost in thought I suppose."

His twin walked up, nodding to Harry in passing, "What did he want with you after class?"

"Bad luck mate, he saw it under the desk with that bloody eye of his, confiscated it, said he might give it back at the end of the year when he isn't a teacher anymore."

Harry lost the rest of the conversation as they rounded a corner.

IIIIIII

"Zhere see, eet is asleep."

"Sure are nice when they aren't trying to eat you," Cedric said.

"Ve should go, before anyvone sees us," Victor said. The boy had been waiting with Fleur when Harry had arrived that night.

"No one is coming," said Harry, secure with his proximity alarm. He looked almost transfixed at the Hungarian Horntail. It was a magnificent creature. A small spurt of fire shot out of it's nose as it breathed out deeply. Harry was smiling as he grabbed hold of the other champions and shot them all out of the clearing.

IIIIIIIIII

"Master, I am sure this will change, nothing. It is too late for them to uncover me."

"It should have been too late for them to discover that you are alive, and yet they have. What other mistakes have you made?"

"None my lord, everything is ready, it will go as planned."

"I will take no chances with this, the potion must be ready to use at a moment's notice, you will be ready to grab him at any time. But know that I will be most displeased if you must act before the tournament is over and he is champion."

"I will see to it master; I will not fail. But master, there is another problem, the boy can sense charmed items, he evades them with ease."

"That is no matter, here is what you must do..."

IIIIIII

"Now Harry, my readers are demanding an interview with Harry Potter."

"I'm afraid that they will just have to settle for another of your front page exposes."

The woman opposite him smiled, her eyes lit up behind her glasses.

IIIIIII

It had taken a while to determine how to locate an area that was unplotable, but once he had, the process became ridiculously easy. The disruptions along the fabric of space and time were unnoticeable to an outside observer, but after his scanners had been adjusted, they stood out plainly. His drones would have no trouble finding each and every place on Earth where a Dementor could be hidden from him.

Locating the Keys that controlled Dementors had been more difficult, but the device he had planted on Dumbledore had been able to follow their connection to the abominations while he had been in the ministry. Everything would be ready when the time came.

IIIIIII

Harry got several 'good luck's as he made his way down to breakfast on the morning of the first task, though he made his way to the head table as though it were any other day. He had an interesting discussion with professor Vector about the significance of repetition in incantation while he ate, and when most of the hall had emptied as students made their way to the arena that had popped up over night, he got up and strolled down to the small tent where the champions were gathered.

He was quite busy though, as he made his way down. He was connected to his ship, orchestrating the drones that would soon be in position.

He walked in to find the three champions waiting, all acting as though they were not actively working together. The tent opened up behind him and the judges walked in.

"Well, good morning everyone," Ludo Bagman said jovially as he walked in. "I trust everyone is prepared for the challenge today. Of course," he smiled, "it would help if you knew what you had to do today."

He held up a leather satchel.

"From here, each of you will draw a model of what you will face out there."

He held the satchel up to Cedric, who smiled ruefully and reached in, pulling out a small model of the Swedish Short Snout with the number One written on it. Harry was next, and as he put his hand in, he could feel something, a very small charm was activated and he found he had grasped one of the dragons. He pulled out the Hungarian Horntail with the number Four written on the side. He was certain he had been meant to pull that one out.

Fleur and Victor both pulled out their dragons, and Ludo Bagman, who looked put out to see not a single look of surprise, went on with his spiel.

"Yes, dragons," he said, as though in response to a shocked exclamation. "You will all be facing off against a dragon today. Your task is to get past it in order to grab the golden egg that it is guarding, and remember, you must enter the arena armed only with your wand."

Having finished the spiel, the judges walked out, leaving the champions alone. Harry quickly put up privacy wards. "Alright, you all know which dragon you've got, one last chance to practice those shields."

Victor sighed as he practiced the precise movements, while Cedric flourished his wand with a grin. The grin vanished when his name was called moments later, but with a brave face, he walked out into the arena. There were cheers and the muffled sound of Bagman announcing to the crowd, and to the Wireless.

There were a few 'oohs,' and 'aahs' to be heard from the crowd while they waited.

"'Arry," Fleur said, while Victor was practicing the wand movements for the various spells he would be using. "I just wanted to say..."

There was a loud roar from the crowd, and Fleur's name was called.

"Good luck," she said, as she made her way out. "You too," he called back.

When Victor's name was called, the boy stopped what he was doing, and, looking like nothing more than a man with a tedious but unexciting task in front of him, walked out with a nod to Harry.

Victor took longer than Cedric, and longer still than Fleur, but at last there was a loud exclaimed 'Oh' from the crowd, followed quickly by a bit of a collective scream, followed by silence, and then, a roar went up. A moment later Harry's name was called out.

Harry walked out of the tent when his name was called. Whatever was going to happen, it was clear that Crouch had intended for him to get this dragon. He gave one more command to his drones before he entered the field and looked at the dragon in front of him. She was all the more magnificent in the day light, sitting protectively in front of her nest. Bagman finished introducing him, and Harry held out his hand, the golden egg peeking out from behind the dragon became a ball of light that shot towards him, re-materializing in his hand. The crowd was silent for a moment before breaking into cheers. Bagman's voice exclaimed out loudly over the noise of the crowd, giving a narrative for the wizarding wireless.

Harry was about to shoot himself out of the stadium in order to avoid whatever might be planned, when he heard two pops to his left and to his right. Harry looked and saw clouds of smoke rise up where the dragon tamers were stationed. Another three pops, one at the judges table, another in the center of the spectators, and one coming up from the ground beneath the dragon, each one erupting a different colored cloud, and soon pandemonium erupted.

With a roar of rage the dragon reared back, a spout of fire shooting at the spectators who were thankfully too far away. There was a clanking sound as the dragon's restraints fell away and it took to the air, flying towards the section of the stands where the smoke had arisen. Harry held out his hands, forming a force barrier around the dragon; it stopped in midair, unable to move. But as he worked to keep the dragon contained, he could feel the dragon's own protections working against him. It was all he could do to keep the field in place. Of a sudden, a force not of the dragon started manipulating his energy matrix, deteriorating it. Harry was staggered as the dragon broke free, it's mighty wings carrying it up towards the onlookers, fire spewing forth.

Harry knew he had to end the situation. Shooting himself high up above, he held himself in the air above the dragon. He held his hand out and gathered his energy. A bolt of pure white light streaked out of his hand and blasted through the head of the dragon, scorching the earth below. There was a mighty thud as the dragon's carcass slammed into the earth, and Harry looked down at it sadly.

Still high up in the air, Harry looked down at the stands. It had been less than a minute since the pandemonium had started, and there was still a mad rush to get out of the arena, a veritable stampede. Doubtless more than a few people were in danger of being trampled, if they hadn't been already. The judges were still trying to clear the magically persistent smokescreen. Harry amplified his voice. "Everybody stop, the danger is over." He had to repeat himself a couple of times before the cluster rush was stopped.

"Fifth year prefects," he called out. "Escort non-injured students to their dormitories. Sixth year prefects, escort students with minor injuries to the Hospital wing. All seventh year students stay behind to give aid to anyone seriously injured."

Harry looked down at the melee frowning, whatever Crouch had planned, Harry hadn't been the target of that dragon. He beamed himself into the crowd and started helping where he could.

IIIIIII

"We must end this competition, Black almost killed dozens of people today," Bradley Howl, the new Head of International Magical Cooperation, formerly in charge of the international monetary exchange, cried out over the din of the others in the staff lounge. It had been several hours since the stampede, and various officials and teachers had gathered in the staff lounge to discuss the future of the tournament.

"We can not end it you fool," said his counterpart from Bulgaria, "The champions and the schools are bound to compete."

"How did zis happen?" asked Madame Maxime, "Ze entire arena was searched beefore ze tournament."

"What happened?" asked Ludo Bagman, "How did they get the dragon to go berserk like that?"

"Perhaps that can best be answered by Auror Kavendish," said Professor Dumbledore. Auror Kavendish had been in charge of security for the event, and if he was embarrassed to have had sabotage under his nose, he did not show it.

"A simple sleep potion was dispersed among the dragon tamers, while a pervasive smoke screen was set off in the judges' box. The dragon was doused with the Elixir of Rage, while among the crowd, a Mimic Solution was released that smelled like a Hungarian Sleptwing, the only animal that poaches Dragon's eggs."

"But how did that all get past our security?" asked Professor McGonagall.

"Yes," said Alastor Moody "How did you miss five magical potions set to go off in such critical areas."

Kavendish gave Moody a steady glare before replying, "To put it plainly, the potions were not there until right before they went off."

"That is impossible," said Igor Karkarof. "The arena was warded against banishment."

"Potter could have done it, the egg was warded against summoning, and yet he did," Bradley Howl said.

"He, should not have been able to put a hole in the dragon's head either," said Karkaroff.

"Potter didn't do it, they weren't banished," said Kavendish. "They were placed by hand, half an hour after they went off, and sent back with a time enchantment.

"Is that even possible, I thought only a time turner..."

"If it is possible with a time turner, it is possible with a spell," Professor Flitwick put in. "There were experiments done in the eighties, very tricky, several wizards were killed trying. But to a competent wizard it is possible. It takes a lot of preparation though, a lot of enchantment."

"Could someone under the imperious curse do it?" asked Kavendish.

Flitwick hesitated, "The actual enchantment, absolutely not, but placement and activation yes. Why?"

"I have already reviewed my memory of that time, and, knowing what to look for, I determined that the person who planted the devices was one of the reporters, further investigation has shown he had been placed under the imperious curse and later obliveated."

"Who could 'ave done this. Who could 'ave actually done this?" asked Madame Maxime.

"Besides Professor Dumbledore and myself, only a small handful," Professor Flitwick supplied. "Though due to recent revelations, one in particular stands out. I once had a student who did his Seventh Year Project on temporal displacement. I warned him, of course, that he was only to work on the theory, and that making an actual attempt would be very dangerous. In the end though, his project received top marks, I have little doubt that he could have managed it successfully. A shame that it all went to waste, for that student was none other than Bartemius Crouch Jr."

"Not this nonsense again," exclaimed Kavendish. "This is just another of Black's attempts to allay suspicion. He too was accounted to be brilliant. He could have pulled this off, and he wouldn't have had to come back from the grave to do it."

"I think," said the Headmaster, "That we have forgotten the purpose of this meeting. We must devise a means to prevent this from happening again."

"What we need," said Professor Moody, "is a different task. Something that would be harder to sabotage. The second task was already dangerous enough, there are far too many avenues of attack."

"Can we do that?" asked Howl. "Does the competition allow for a change like that?"

"As long as all three schools agree, there would not be a problem. But arrangements have already been made, that's a lot of planning down the drain." Bagman put in.

"Consider them gone," said Professor McGonagall. "There are thirteen students in the Hospital Wing right now, many more were injured. I will not let this happen again, just because you feel it inconvenient."

"But what should eet be replaced by?" asked Madame Maxime.

Professor Snape spoke up for the first time. "We need something without any uncontrollable variables. Something we can control, without room for outside influence."

"Like a dueling competition," said Professor Moody.

"Yes," said Professor Flitwick, quite excited. "That would be perfect."

The door opened, and an Auror walked in, who looked quite disheveled.

"Auror Paralta, what do you need," asked Auror Kavendish.

"Sir, all Aurors are being recalled to the Ministry for rapid reassignment."

Kavendish went pale, "What's happened?"

Auror Paralta looked unsure whether he should speak in front of the the others, but soon his brave faced facade fell, and he looked quite as distressed as he sounded when he said, "They're gone Sir, the Dementors, everywhere. They're gone. They're saying there was a flash of light and they all faded to nothing. It happened here at the school, the Ministry, Azkaban, and even out on the Continent. They're all gone."

In the worried talk that followed the two Auror's departures, no one quite noticed the Headmaster, sitting back in his chair, sucking on a lemon drop and smiling.

A/N: I just wish I could be a fly on the wall in the Ministry as they try to deal with what Harry just did. As always, reviews are appreciated, read, and cherished. As always please Read and Review.


	10. 09 Stage

Disclaimer: Since I don't own the rights for Harry Potter or Stargate, I put them on my wish list to Santa. Maybe I'll get them for Christmas and then I can properly publish this stuff with althor42.

A/N: I'm sorry this took two months; I shouldn't be trusted with the care of small children, much less the greater responsibility of updating a story regularly. I'm just worried that social workers are going to come and take Isis' Bane away from me.

Stage

A cool wind blew his cloak about as he waited, though he paid the cold no more mind than he paid the swirling leaves or the howls in the distance. He made no sign of impatience as he waited in the lonely dark of night in the middle of the desolate forest. Inside though he was close to snapping. This was too much danger, too much risk; if they were discovered... The wind stopped for a moment, he heard a rustle in the distance, the snap of a twig, the sound of something large moving across the ground, and finally a light that came out from behind a tree. The wind blew once more, from behind him; as though it had gathered itself prior, it blew with a force against his back and against the figure in the distance. He saw it stumble and, his patience forgotten, he rushed forward to take a bundle from its arms. He heard a ragged breath from the bundle, and ministered to it while a large snake wound it's way about him.

"The wards first," said the bundle. He wanted to argue, but he couldn't disobey. Handing the bundle to the one who had stumbled, he pulled out his wand, while directing a look of disgust at the thing holding his master, though it no more noticed his glare than it noticed anything anymore.

He closed his eyes and started chanting. He had to go slow, he could not afford notice, he had to be careful, now more than ever. He could hear his master chanting, could feel his magic swirl about them. An hour later, when the chanting stopped, he knelt before his master, with his eyes closed. He felt the tip of his master's wand touch his forehead, and his master said, "I entrust in you, my servant, the secret of my location, that mine enemies will not find me." Then he said, for his masters ears alone, "The Dark Lord is hidden just outside the eastern most point of the wards of Hogwarts."

The magic that he had felt swirling about them began to condense, he could feel it, tightening around him. He felt constricted, as the magic settled upon him, almost like a second skin, binding him.

"You have everything?" his master asked.

"Yes, my Lord, everything is ready."

IIIIIII

"Headmaster," Madame Bones greeted, as she sat down in the Headmasters office. She looked weary, though she held herself with the same poise as she always did.

"Madame Bones," Albus Dumbledore nodded his head to the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. "How does this day find you? I understand that the past few have been quite trying."

"'Trying' might be an understatement. A lot has needed to be changed since they disappeared."

"Are there any theories to explain what happened?" asked the Headmaster.

"Nothing credible. Though many are speculating that this is what Black has been working on these past years. Of course others say the Dark Lord, and others still are saying that it must be Crouch, since that article came out the day of the tournament. There is, of course, no evidence to support any of it. As far as we can tell, it all happened simultaneously around the continent. Which suggests either a small army did the deed, or that this was all just a strange phenomenon. Some astrologists are blaming sun spots of all things."

"But there is one theory that you did not mention," said Albus.

"That a teenaged boy destroyed them all while playing in a tournament in front of countless witnesses? I dare say that it has entered more than a few minds, but in spite of everything, it still seems too incredible."

Albus refrained mentioning that the boy had said right out that he would destroy the dementors. The woman had lost a lot of sleep, after all. "Well I think it is safe to say that this was not the work of Voldemort. He always coveted the Keys, and I hardly think that he would pass up an opportunity to free those in Azkaban who could aid him. No, if he were determined to destroy the dementors, it would have been at the moment he was there to reclaim his followers. The same could be said of Bartimus."

"I must say I had almost expected to come in here to see you toasting the occasion, I know that you have never born fondness for the dementors, or their use. Some would be blaming you, where you not judging the tournament at the time.

"Speaking of the tournament though, the Department of Mysteries has been analyzing that dragon for two days now and are no closer to determining what the boy did to it. I've certainly never seen the like."

"I'm afraid that such is to be expected from Mr. Potter," said the Headmaster. "Have you made your selections?"

Madame Bones pulled a scroll out of her bag and handed it to the Headmaster.

"Under different circumstances, I would have chosen others, but I want those others in place should something happen during the next task. There are those who will think that I am embarrassing the ministry by not putting forth our best, but Jamison and Markova are both competent duelists and their skills in other areas will not be missed in the security detail."

"Excellent, we have already received the names of the other duelists. We will make the announcement tomorrow morning. Perhaps now, though, we should come to the matter that has brought _you_ here, rather than your owl."

Madame Bones paused, a guarded look on her face. But she drew herself up and, for the first time, she spoke out loud what she was planning. "I intend that a vote-of-no-confidence shall be called against Minister Fudge."

"Are you sure that that will be wise?" asked the Headmaster.

Madame Bones gave him a level glare. "Do not think that I have not seen your hand in this. While gauging support, I have seen your influence among members of the Wizengamot, as well as myself. Many see that we have a blind man flying this carpet, and that we're heading through a pass. The only question is," and here she paused, "why do you intend for me to be the next Minister?"

"Aside from your many years of service as the Head of Magical Law Enforcement, and on the Wizengamot, you have many attributes that suite you for the position. Perhaps chief among them however, is that you are not influenced by Lucius Malfoy."

"You know very well what I am asking. Do you even intend to step in in the interim? It would be your duty before a new vote was cast, which you would win. I am not the only one who sees trouble brewing, and I am not the only one who believes that it should be you who guides us through."

"And yet, it must not be me. I will give guidance through my position on the Wizengamot, and I will guide our young here at this school, but the power of the Ministry must not be mine to wield."

"But why Albus?"

For a brief moment, the aged Headmaster looked to be as old as he actually was, but the moment passed and all he said was, "We all have our own paths to follow."

Madame Bones scowled at what she knew would be the only answer she would get.

"I must speak with young Mr. Potter, soon."

"To what end?" asked Professor Dumbledore.

"If I am to be Minister," the if was quite stressed, "I must prepare this country for the future. The boy is a catalyst; he has been a cause of all of this, as much as anything else. If half of the reports I receive are accurate, then it is clear that he has been trained by others, in secret, in magics far more advanced than we know, blending muggle science with the power we have wielded since before they learned how to make a vessel float on the water. I need to know what is coming."

"I can arrange an interview, but I do believe that the answers you seek will not be forth coming. He guards his secrets closely. Perhaps though, I can shed some light on the matter. Through various observations, there was a theory I had been working on long before Mr. Potter's arrival, one that has been supported by the means of Mr. Potter's arrival. I have kept it largely to myself because it seemed too fantastical to possibly be true. However, since it was the only avenue I had for the search, it was the one I pursued."

"Well whatever it is, I am sure it's better than the theories floating around the office," the contempt she held in her voice for those theories was palpable. "But what do you mean about the means of his arrival? He arrived by inverse Portkey, how can that tell you where he has been?"

"Though it may seem to last forever, a trip by Portkey is very fast; a trip from here to America would take only five seconds, an inverse Portkey would take exactly twice as long. In the early days of Portkey study, the Department of Mysteries discovered that the longer one was en route during a Portkey trip, the faster one traveled. So a trip to the other side of the world taking five seconds, a trip from here to France would still take a whole second, though you would travel a smaller fraction of the distance." During his explanation, he maintained a lectural tone, as he conjured a tea service.

"You can't be telling me you actually timed however long Mr. Potter's Portkey trip took. Even if you knew exactly precisely how long the trip took, it would leave a great area to search."

"Alas, I did not time the event. But I felt when the magic of the Portkey was activated, and Mr. Potter did arrive several minutes later."

"You can not be suggesting..."

"Indeed I am."

"What other observations could you have made to support such a thought?"

Albus Dumbledore handed Amelia Bones a teacup of delicate porcelain. "I am curious, what do you know of ancient Egyptian mythology?"

IIIIIII

"SGC, this is Harry Potter, I am relaying a file to you for Atlantis."

One of his many projects since he had arrived had been to break through the wards of the castle in order to get a signal out. He had spent a great deal of time analyzing each and every ward, before he decided on a less advanced route.

He had solved the problem just in time to orchestrate the simultaneous attack on the dementors. A drone, high above hovered so that it was bisected by the school wards. The signal reached the drone before it struck the barrier, and was then retransmitted on the other side.

"Captain Potter, this is SGC, Sgt. Trent speaking. We received your file and will relay it for you. Was there anything else that you needed?"

He had been working on some ideas for the Wraith problem in Pegasus, and had sent some of his thoughts to the SGC to be relayed to Atlantis.

"How is the Daedalus testing with the new systems?" he asked curiously. He had met some of the Daedalus crew on Atlantis, and SPC Trent had been going on for some time about the scheduled upgrades.

"I'm sorry Sir, I'm not authorized to answer that question? Would you like me to connect you to the head of Special Projects?"

Sitting propped up against his pillow in his school bed, Harry shook his head, "No, that's all. Thank you Sargent." Harry disconnected from the drone.

Harry activated his Taylor, and got out of bed. After a hot shower, he found himself walking down to the Great Hall for breakfast with the boys he shared the dormitory with. Dean and Seamus were debating the merits of muggle sports, while Ron and Hermione were arguing about whether something or other should be called S.P.E.W. or Spew, while Harry talked to Neville about a shielding charm. He had found the time now and then to work with the boy on his agility and speed in Defense, and along the way he had picked up a few others who were interested in the fitness aspect of the magical subject.

As they rounded a corner though they came across a younger girl wearing Hufflepuff colors. She walked nervously, but purposefully up to Harry with a newspaper in her hand which she held up to him.

The editors of the Daily Prophet had seemed indecisive over which story should make the front page, and had split it down the middle. One side featuring the disappearance of the dementors, and the other discussing the terrorist attack at the Tournament, and the role Harry had played. A lucky photograph of Harry as he had hovered above the Dragon as the ion bolt raced downward was placed right next to a stock photo of a dementor, which had been doctored to show the dementor fading into nothing.

"Will you autograph this for me?" she asked hopefully.

The students he had been walking with stopped to watch, looking at Harry expectantly. The thing was, he had grown used to people being slightly star struck around him, his accomplishments were known over much of the galaxy. Autographs however seemed to be a purely Earth thing, and he had never been asked for such a thing before.

Harry found himself flummoxed. He elbowed Neville beside him. "What do I do," he whispered.

"Er," said Neville, who was unused to fielding requests for help from Harry, "She wants you to sign her newspaper."

"No, I know that," said Harry, "I..."

"Go on then," said Ron.

Harry sighed. "So um, what's your name?" he asked the girl.

"Pamela," she said nervously. "You saved me from the dragon."

"Right," said Harry. He pulled out a transfigured pen and took the clipping. 'Dear Pamela,' he wrote, 'I'm glad you're not hurt. From Harry.' He supposed that seemed right. He printed his name, never having had reason to practice signing it before. He thought that it would do. He handed the paper back to her.

"Oh thank you," said Pamela, reading his note. She stepped forward and hugged him.

"Er, right," said Harry, awkwardly patting the girl on the head.

"Wait until all my friends hear," the girl said, before she ran off giggling.

Harry felt distinctly traumatized by the event. "That's going to happen again, isn't it."

"Yeah, you probably shouldn't have done that," said Ron. "Should have let her down easy."

"But you guys told me too," Harry complained.

"Yeah," said Dean, "that's where you went wrong."

"Oh, Harry," said Seamus in a falsetto, "won't you sign your discarded tissue for me?"

"Don't worry, Harry," said Hermione. "I thought it was very sweet."

Harry grumbled the rest of the way down to the great hall.

When they made their way into the great hall, there were a few screams but mostly laughter when Harry, and those walking with him, tripped a charm and found themselves with faux medusas hair. Harry could barely see the snakes slithering about the top of his head as he rolled his eyes up to see. He chuckled as he waved his hand dispelling the charm.

The problem was though, it had become increasingly difficult to distinguish magical booby traps around the castle recently. It seemed that someone, very likely the perpetrator of the pranks, had been charming everything from flagstones to door knockers; presumably with the intent of confusing Harry. With some discerning he found ten charmed items within his immediate vicinity. After some consideration, he identified a charm that prevented oxidization on some nearby cutlery, a traction spell on various stones in the floor, and a warming charm on one section of bench, upon which a boy looked to be sitting rather uncomfortably, among several others.

Harry removed himself from the group and made his way to the staff table, carefully scanning each and every charm around him. It was rather tedious actually. He was quite bemused though when he sat down next to Professor Moody, to find that he had a great many charmed objects about him as well. Aside from the charms on his magical eye, leg, and the various potions he always kept about himself, he had about a dozen more charmed objects that he was either wearing or keeping on his person. Everything he could discern either had a defensive or offensive purpose, as well there were a couple of objects who's function he could not identify, one of which was a small ring around the Professor's finger. The already paranoid man seemed to have become more so since the first task.

As he sat down, the Headmaster rose from his seat. The noise in the hall died down as the students noticed.

"A good morning, to our students, and our guests. In light of the events during the first task there have been some changes made to ensure that future events will not be tampered with. Mr. Bagman from the Ministry has come to announce those changes."

Mr. Bagman rose from where he had been seated at the end of the table, smiling genially.

"As any good quidditch player knows, a good captain will be willing to change the game strategy if the situation calls for it." Harry recalled that the man had once been a professional quidditch player. "For the safety of the champions and the spectators, the second task has been replaced by what we feel to be a much more controlled, but just as challenging a task. Three Aurors from the French Ministry, Three Aurors from among the Durmstrang Ministries, and two from our own will be participating in the second task, which will be a no-form third-level dueling competition. Champions will be graded based on their demonstration of magical knowledge, their speed, how long they last, and the number of hits on both sides. Extra points will be given if any of the champions actually best one of the skilled Aurors that they will be facing. Mr. Krum, will be dueling an Auror representing Beauxbaton and one from Hogwarts, Mrs. Delacour will be dueling an Auror representing Durmstrang, and one from Hogwarts, and Mr. Potter and Mr. Diggory, will each be dueling Aurors from Beauxbaton, and Durmstrang."

This seemed to be a popular announcement, as Mr. Bagman had to wait as the cheering died down.

"As you know, the Champions each finished the first task with a golden egg, inside of which a clue was concealed. The first champion to solve the puzzle, will receive a prize that will aid them in the trials to come."

Harry felt the eyes of the other champions on him at this announcement. He had already solved the puzzle and shared the answer with them.

As Mr. Bagman sat down, the hall filled with excited chatter.

"Well Potter, this seems like a task designed for you," Moody commented gruffly beside him.

"I suppose so," Harry said. "It does seem that it would be more difficult for someone to sabotage this event than the last one was." Harry picked up his fork after he had finished delving the dining table. "How goes your search, I'm sure I would have heard if any progress had been made solving this mystery."

"You would have if there had been any. Though the way that the first task was sabotaged does support the theory that Crouch Jr.'s involved, we're no closer to finding where he's hiding or how he managed to get about undetected. I'm certain he has an accomplice, but there too, we're no closer to finding a culprit."

"I have a couple more places to search within the castle, but at this point, I'm starting to think I won't find anything," said Harry. "If Crouch has an accomplice inside, then he wouldn't need to hide within it."

Harry checked his chronometer, he had a meeting in Hogsmeade. Bidding the old Auror a good day, Harry walked out of the great hall and transformed into a falcon. He flew down to Hogsmeade, being careful to stay over the road.

Landing in an alleyway, he walked the rest of the way to the Three Broomsticks. Making his way to the back, he spotted Remus Lupin seated in the back corner.

"Remus," he said as he sat down opposite the man. "Thank you for meeting me so early."

"Well after your enigmatic letter I feel I won't mind the early hour after my curiosity has been satisfied."

Harry smiled as he waved his hand, affixing privacy spells to the both of them. "I'll tell you on the way to the castle," he said.

The road was too winding for Harry to shoot the both of them to the front gate, so they had to walk.

"I told you once that I didn't feel comfortable introducing you to Sirius while the Dementors still floated about, wanting to suck out his soul," he began as they made their way up.

"And now that they're gone?"

"Now that they're gone, we've decided that the risk is low enough. Sirius is eager to meet you."

The rest of the walk up the hill consisted mainly of talk about the first and second task. Remus had his own take on dueling strategies different from Professor Moody's. When the heavy iron gates were in sight, Harry put a hand on Remus's shoulder and beamed them through. He beamed them once more to the spot directly below the Libertas and then up into the ship.

"Stay where you are for a moment please," Harry said as he stepped away.

"What..." Remus started. He was standing on a small platform, as a bright light shone on him from above.

"Sorry, just scanning you for any threats," Harry lied. "You can step down now."

Remus stepped down off of the platform, turning around as he tried to take in all of his surroundings. "Harry," he paused. "Are we on a space ship?"

Harry laughed, "Quite an imagination you have there. No we're in a cavern I created underground. Sirius did the decoration. I've gotten loads better, but I've always been pants at transfiguration." As far as Remus would be able to tell they were under ground, the doors to the areas outside the living area and lab were concealed, and all of the view screens showed images from different regions of the earth. Remus was poking one showing a tropical beach.

"You built this," Remus stated.

Harry nodded his head.

"Underground"

"Yep"

"Just like that?"

"Uh huh."

"You're sure we aren't on a space ship, right?"

Harry wanted to laugh, "Pretty sure, yeah."

"Huh," was all the flabbergasted Remus Lupin could say.

"Come on, Sirius is in the lounge."

They walked out of the lab and into the lounge, where Sirius was playing a strategy game with Nol. Remus stopped in his tracks when he saw Sirius, who looked up.

"Sirius, Nol" Harry said. "I'd like to introduce you to Remus Lupin. Remus, this is Sirius Black and Nol Aalon.

The two men just stared at each other for a moment.

"Yes, well, Nol and I will be in the lab to give you two a chance to catch up."

Nol stood up from the game and walked into the lab, as Harry turned around to join him, he heard Sirius say, "So, did I leave any girlfriends behind pining for me?"

"I take it you did well against the dragon," Nol asked.

"My plan worked perfectly, up until the dragon attempted to kill the spectators." Harry explained the sabotage.

"It is curious that you were not the intended target."

"Yes, but even more curious that I was intended to face that dragon." He shook his head, the mystery still disturbed him. "How was your trip to Tollana?" Nol had needed supplies for his experiments, and Harry had not wanted to risk Sirius intervening if something had gone wrong during the tournament.

"The trip was uneventful. I did receive news though, when I arrived, that might interest you."

"Oh?"

"Fae Yerik received news from Earth concerning the Sangraal."

"Do they think it has something to do with her research? I didn't even know they had picked up the search."

After finding evidence suggesting that the soul did in fact exist, several Toll an scientists had started trying to detect and quantify it. Fae Yerik was studying the soul in relation to ascension.

Nol accessed the ship's memory banks, and brought up an image of a device that had the aesthetic look of Ancient technology.

"It seems that one of the Stargate teams came across an Alteran artifact made by a man known to Earth's History as Merlin. The device put one out of phase with the rest of the universe in a fashion far more stable than our own. Based on the various historical logs, it is believed that after Merlin ascended, he once more took a corporeal form and started working in secret on a device capable of destroying an ascended being. To keep himself from being discovered by the Ascended Alterans, he kept himself out of phase during his research."

"So is that what it was, the Sangraal was created to destroy Ascended beings? But why? And did they find anything that might lead them to it?"

"The device he was creating was indeed the Sangraal, but it is not written why he would set out to build such a thing. SG-1 is searching for it, and Fae Yerik is currently studying the notes found with the phase shifting device. She contacted me on the matter because of the link between yourself and what may be Tom Riddle's soul. It is unknown if the research can help this matter, but she will be keeping me updated. You can find the translation of Merlin's notes in the ships memory banks."

"Well, I suppose I'll find time to work on that too."

"Have you started a new project?" Nol asked.

Harry opened up the project he had started when he had brought Remus on board. The data from the scan showed up on a projection in front of them.

"How curious," Nol said.

"I should be able to figure it out," Harry said.

IIIIIII

A few hours later, after Harry had escorted Remus back to the gates, Harry found himself making his way to the unused room that the champions used to meet. The meeting between Sirius and Remus had gone well, though Sirius could not remember the past they had shared, and Remus could not be told of the world Sirius lived in, Harry had gone back into the lounge to find the two men laughing over a story that Remus was telling. During lunch though, Remus had given Nol repeated, thoughtful looks, and Harry had to wonder if the man suspected Nol's extra terrestrial origins. Harry was glad that the two men had been able to meet, though.

He entered the unused classroom, where the the other champions stopped talking as he entered.

"So," said Cedric, "What's the prize?"

Harry looked at him in confusion, for a moment before he remembered the announcement from that morning.

"I didn't collect it," Harry said.

"But you will?" Victor said. He seemed oddly interested in the answer.

"I suppose I will," Harry said.

Victor nodded his head in a satisfied manner.

"Beefore ve get to ze matter at hand, ve vanted to discus the second task."

"We want to keep working together on the Crouch thing." Cedric put in. "But what with how everything's been changed for the second task, we figure we want to actually represent our schools. We want to prepare for the second task on our own."

"You all feel this way?" Harry asked.

They all nodded.

"A third level duel can still be very dangerous, the rules basically say no immediately lethal spells, but everything else goes. You'll be up against experienced fighters."

"Ve vill be facing the dangers ve agreed to face," Victor said. "Ve entered this competition for a reason. Ve vorked together in the last task because of the threat of outside influence, this vill be different."

The others readily agreed, Harry sighed, and not for the first time, he cursed the ridiculous tournament.

"All right," Harry said. "It's your choice. Now on to business then, who wants to report first?"

The champions had been discreetly enquiring among their fellow students on the events that occurred on the day of the task. The Auror's had as well, but if they had discovered anything, Dumbledore had yet to pass it on. Cedric made a gesture and started reporting on what he had found. Harry doubted though that anyone had discovered anything of value; he doubted that Crouch had left anything to find.

IIIIIII

Flying high above the school, Harry let the warm air rising from the stone castle support his wings as he glided, making lazy circles in the sky. The other champions had made their reports, but only Victor had had anything substantive to say. The night before, he had witnessed Karkarof gripping his forearm in pain, when the man had rolled up his sleeve Victor had seen the Dark Mark on the man's arm. Of course; it was already known that Karkarof was marked by Voldemort, but it was disturbing to think that the mark was active again. Harry's thoughts were drawn to the man who had started it all.

Voldemort had had him brought here for a reason. That he wanted to kill Harry was assumed, but that assumption was not supported by the sabotage during the first task. Why ensure that Harry would face that dragon, when the target had been the spectators. Had he wanted to test Harry further, to see what he would do? Nothing Voldemort had done made sense. Why had the man, driven by power and conquest, focused on killing him. That the man was evil and spiteful was supported by the histories in the library. But the man was crippled, his power base dismantled. Why was the man focused on revenge, when he should have been attempting to regain what he had lost. In light of the first task, Harry had to wonder if his own demise was Voldemort's ultimate goal in bringing him. But if it wasn't, if Voldemort had plans further reaching, then where did he fit in them?

Harry's thoughts were derailed when the astronomy tower came into view, he dove sharply, picking up speed before he angled himself towards the tower and the girl standing on top of it. As he did, he cursed himself for ignoring what he had seen before.

He landed on top of the tower behind the red headed girl who could only be Ginny Weasley. She stood on top of the crenelations looking down. He had been concerned by the reckless behavior he had seen in her, but he had not dealt with it. The girl raised her arms, like a diver about to jump into a pool.

"Wait," he said.

She stiffened, realizing she had an audience. Harry knew he could easily stop her from falling if she jumped, but he didn't want that to be necessary. He found though that he didn't quite know what to say to her, though he had been in a similar position himself once before.

"I'm not going to pretend that I understand what's brought you here. But I stood at a ledge like that once, and I decided to walk away, and there hasn't been a day gone by since that I haven't been glad that I did. I don't think you want to hurt your family like this, and I know that whatever's wrong, you can make it better, I can help you. Death is final, there are no second chances. Give yourself a chance, and I promise you, you won't regret it. Why don't you step back down here, and we can talk about whatever's brought you here today."

The girl brought her arms down and she turned around. Harry was surprised though to see an amused look on the girls face.

"Maybe we can talk later, right now though I've only got five minutes to get to Herbology, and I'm in a bit of a rush."

With that she jumped backwards, off of the tower. Harry leaped towards the ledge, leaning over he held out his hand, halting her descent. She gave a yelp at her sudden stop. She looked up at Harry, and this time she did not look amused.

"Do you mind, I really do need to get to Herbology."

Harry looked at her, bewildered. Had she had a complete break with reality? He shot her down to the base of the tower, and then shot himself down after her. When he rematerialized though, he could feel the magic all around him, at the base of the tower. He looked at Ginny.

"Why did you jump."

"Shortcut," she said. "A fun shortcut."

"So you know about the..."

"Cushioning charms, yes. I put them there yesterday before my first jump."

"You could have still gotten hurt."

"But I didn't, now, unless you want to bare your soul to me any more, I'm about to be late to class."

"A guy would say anything he thought might help in a situation like that."

"A guy might, but you didn't just say anything did you?"

Harry sighed, he made an effort not to be ashamed of his past, but he really wished he hadn't said what he had on top of the tower. That time on Oberdad had been the darkest moment of his life, and he didn't want to revisit it. He glanced at Ginny Weasley, who became a point of light that shot over towards the green houses.

IIIIIII

Harry was reviewing the work that his students had submitted during his previous class. The students had been asked to theorize how the principals of Universal Constancy could be applied to switching spells. Harry was interrupted though when his comm was activated.

"Captain Potter, this is Home World Command, please respond."

"Home World Command, this is Captain Potter."

"Captain Potter, I'm patching you through to Colonel Carter."

Harry waited a moment before he heard a familiar voice.

"Harry?"

"Hey Sam, what's happening."

"It's the Daedalus, something's gone wrong with the upgrades, she had a cascade failure in power distribution moments after she dropped into orbit just a bit ago. She lost propulsion before she could get into a proper course, and her orbit's decaying rapidly. Her shields, and inertial dampeners are on a different power feed so she'll probably survive reentry, but it looks like she's going to come down just off the coast of Florida."

"How's the crew?"

"The crew's fine, we beamed nonessential personnel off while they tried to fix the problem. In the meantime, we were hoping the Libertas could intercept the Daedalus and tow her through Hyperspace to a safe distance."

"What about the Prometheus?"

"The Daedalus has already fallen below a low earth orbit, the Prometheus can't maneuver that well in the atmosphere."

"Alright, tell the crew on the Daedalus that they should be able to angle their shields for a smoother stabler flight through the atmosphere. The Libertas will be under way soon."

"Stay in touch," the Colonel said.

Harry opened up the comm system on the Libertas.

"Sirius, Nol, you're going on a rescue mission."

He activated the ship's engines and directed it to take off.

"What do you need us to do?" Sirius asked.

"Just hold tight, the Libertas is just going to tug the Daedalus out of an unstable orbit."

"Sounds like fun."

"Nol, I'm sending you Hyperspace requirements, can you start the calculations?"

"Of course."

Harry directed the ship up and into the stratosphere, while Homeworld Command relayed him their telemetry, the Daedalus was on the other side of the planet currently and the Libertas couldn't pick it up yet. Harry would have to hurry, the orbit was starting to decay rapidly and there was only so fast that a ship could travel through the atmosphere, even the Libertas had it's limits. The Libertas shot through the air, moving to intercept the ship that would look like a slow moving shooting star to anyone who happened to look up in the night, growing larger as it rapidly descended.

The Libertas eventually had the Daedalus in sight, the two ships rapidly approaching each other. Harry quickly slowed his ship, reversing it's trajectory as the Daedalus came up from behind. The Daedalus had just passed from night to day as it raced over the Texas desert, and Harry brought the Libertas into a matching course just in front of the Daedalus. He waited a few moments for the completed calculations for the Hyperspace jump the two ships would make together. If the Daedalus dropped out of Hyperspace at the right spot, at the right angle, Harry could leave it in a stable orbit around Jupiter.

The calculations made, the Libertas dropped it's cloak as Harry initiated the Hyperspace jump, the two ships flying over New Orleans as they flew into the bright vortex. The only question left was; had anyone seen?

A/N Althor42 swears that any similarity you see in the upcoming chapter for The Horcrux Within (totally a good read) with this chapter, is purely coincidental. All I know is that I sent him my chapter before he sent me his. Just saying.


	11. 10 Disclosure

Disclaimer: I wish this site would give a standard disclaimer on all chapters, but, alas, I must once more remind you that I own neither Stargate nor Harry Potter. So please, while I ask that you enjoy this chapter, I must ask that you refrain from sending me money. Unless it is an obscene amount of money, in which case my conscience may well be bought.

A/N: Based off of recent reviews, I feel the need to say once more that this will not be Harry/Ginny.

I'm sorry this took so long, as I mentioned, I took a break to write a one shot, which can be found on my profile, The Lord of Chaos.

Disclosure

Snogging Marie Ellis was fun. No, not just fun, it was fantastic. It was like an adventure every time. He had never felt as elated as he had been since he had started dating her. They had met in the hospital wing, in the aftermath of the attack during the First Task. He had wound up with a ruptured spleen, and Marie had had a few broken bones. They had had adjacent hospital beds. Though it had hurt quite a lot, Arnold had to say that getting trampled by about ten of his classmates was the best thing that could have happened to him.

Marie giggled.

"Shh," he said. "We'll be caught."

They were up well past curfew.

"The other teachers don't patrol up here, they think Mad-Eye'll catch anyone wandering around his quarters." Her fingers started playing with the hair at the nape of his neck.

They were also well out of bounds.

"It's him I'm worried about," he said, as he held her close inside one of the alcoves that overlooked the grounds and the lake below. It had been her idea. She had seen Professor Moody limping across the grounds, towards the Hogsmeade gate, from one of the windows of Gryffindor tower earlier that night.

"Oh, who knows how long he'll be," she replied.

Who knew indeed. Arnold was starting to think she was excited at the prospect of almost getting caught. Still, with that wooden leg, they'd hear the man long before he came upon them. As well, there weren't that many options in inter-house relationships. They started kissing again, and Arnold found himself losing himself in the moment.

It wasn't until Marie stilled that he heard what he had assured himself he would have heard long before. The thumping coming from down the hall was alarmingly close, and coming quickly. He flattened himself against the wall inside the shadows of the alcove as the Professor approached. Marie grasped his hand from her position besides him. It was no good, he knew, that eye of his would see right through the stone, and into the alcove just down the hall from his door. But he sounded like he was in a hurry, perhaps he didn't have time to catch wayward students.

He heard a scuffle, and a quick stop to the thumping coming from down the corridor. Arnold chanced a glance around the corner. Professor Moody had fallen over, but he got up quickly, hoping along on one foot, as his wooden one had fallen off. But then, confoundingly, another leg grew in to replace the missing one. Arnold couldn't believe his eyes. A moment later and Professor moody started cursing, as his magical eye popped out of it's socket. But it wasn't Professor Moody at all. His face was morphing, changing into that of a stranger. There was an impostor after all! Professor Moody, or whoever this was, was behind everything.

The man reached his office door, which he quickly unwarded and ran into. Should they make a run for it, was this their chance? Still holding Marie's hand, he started creeping out of the alcove.

"Accio leg, Accio eye." He started creeping faster, but he knew they had been found when he heard an oath from the door.

"Run," he said urgently to Marie, who had not seen what he had. The blood was rushing in his ears. They started running, but he skidded to a halt, when he saw Marie fall besides him, a spray of blood staining the wall besides him. He had never seen so much blood in his life, and now Marie's clung to the wall three feet from her fallen form.

He didn't even have his wand in his hand, which pocket had he put it in? He tried to pull her up, but even after she had lost so much blood, she was too heavy. He was stopped by the curse he didn't see coming. It felt like someone had slashed him across his chest with an ax. He stumbled forward, falling on top of Marie. He found her hand. The wound that left his organs exposed didn't really hurt, not like he would have expected it to, everything was muted. He couldn't really hear the muttered curses from above him, everything was going black, until everything ended in a flash of green.

IIIIIII

We Are Not Alone!

Alien space ship spotted by dozens in the skies over

Louisiana

Late last night, at the Airspace Monitoring Station in

California, George Collins, an engineer in the radar

telemetry division, picked up an anomalous reading from

one of the satellites he monitors.

"At first I thought that it was a meteor," said Collins,

"based off of its trajectory and size. But analysis of the

sensor readings showed an object that didn't conform to what we typically see in meteors. It was like the radar was

bouncing off of a smooth surface."

Collins determined the trajectory of the object. "It looked

like it was going to splash down off the coast of Louisiana."

Then he called up observatories and monitoring stations

along the flight path of the foreign object. Half an hour

later, as the object was flying towards the east coast, dozens

of astronomers had their eyes, equipment and cameras

pointed towards the sky. What many of them saw will

change the course of history.

The pictures above were captured by a high speed camera

at the Highland Road Park Observatory in Louisiana, it

clearly shows an object that is obviously not natural. The

same object was captured by many cameras near the

Louisiana coast.

It was what wasn't caught on camera though that has truly

amazed many of the people who saw it over the skies of

New Orleans. As the object, which can only be described

as an alien spaceship, came closer and closer to an impact

with the ocean, observers in New Orleans saw another

object shimmer out of nothingness in front of the other,

moments before both ships flew into a purple vortex,

disappearing.

For millennia, we have asked ourselves, are we alone in

this galaxy, could there be life on other planets. Those

questions were answered today, but the answers have only

brought up more questions. Perhaps chief among them: are

we safe?

IIIIIII

"Madame Bones," the Headmaster greeted. "You are a tad bit early. I am afraid that Mr. Potter is usually quite punctual."

She dropped the newspaper she had carried with her on his desk, as she took a seat opposite the man.

'Muggle Baiting Taken Too Far'

There was a muggle photograph of a massive metal contraption in the skies over a large city.

"A few days ago I might have convinced myself of their estimation of the event, but now..."

"Now you believe that there is more to the universe than you could have ever imagined. I assume that the rest of the ministry agrees with Wizarding World News."

"Before I left the office this morning, I had to listen to several people cursing the American magical community for such a large breech in the statute, as if the whole country had decided to perpetrate a hoax, while Arthur Weasley wanted to discuss how we might prevent a copycat here in Britain. The Minister was strutting up and down the halls pronouncing the follies of the American Magical Democracy, announcing that they should have requested obliviators from foreign countries to try to modify the memories of countless people across several cities. As if that's even possible now, with muggle communication what it is."

"Have you made your views known?"

Madame Bones gave a mirthless laugh. "I think it would be quite difficult to oust Fudge, much less become minister, if I were locked up in the secure ward of St. Mungos."

"Yes, I very much agree, said the Headmaster, on that note..." he looked up. "Come in Harry."

The young man who walked in was shorter than Madame Bones would have expected, though he carried himself with a confidence not born of conceit. She rose to meet him. He smiled at Madame Bones as he held out a hand with a strange metal contraption wrapped around it.

"Madame Bones, I presume."

"Mr. Potter," she greeted, shaking hands with the youth. She had the feeling that behind his friendly face, he was sizing her up. "I was glad that I had time to meet with you today."

"Well I'll be happy to help you if I can."

"I hope you don't mind, I took the liberty of ordering you both lunch," said the Headmaster. "This may take some time."

Amelia groaned internally, Albus Dumbledore shouldn't be allowed to set menus, he rarely conformed to norms. With a pop, stacks of pancakes, and waffles, smothered with jam, syrup and whipped topping appeared, next to a large honeyed ham, candied yams, and a large pitcher of a brown muggle soda. She glared at the man, the boy besides her just grinned.

"Yankee breakfast food?" she asked.

"And thanksgiving staples," said the man. "Recent events had me thinking of the foods I have enjoyed during my trips across the pond in my youth."

Amelia sat back down. "Perhaps you should have recalled that such confections are better enjoyed in such quantities during one's youth."

The Headmaster's only reply was to serve himself a stack of pancakes.

"To business then," she said.

"Oh I dare say you're in no hurry to return to the ministry, what with affairs being what they are, do make yourself comfortable. Enjoy some lunch."

The boy seemed content to eat the waffles in front of him. With a show of sufferance, she levitated a stack of the flat cakes onto her plate with her wand, a flick of which banished the ridiculous toppings. She ate a bite to satisfy her old transfiguration teacher and as she opened her mouth to resume the conversation, the man stepped in with a question to the young man besides her.

"How goes your defense project, Harry?"

"Oh, very well," replied the boy. "And I'm learning loads more about runes and arithmancy, working with the professors."

"Might we see a working model soon?"

"I dare say we have one now, but it's only a rough draft of sorts. We're working on randomization, and difficulty selection. If nothing else turns up to distract us, though, I think we might be able to give a demonstration within a week."

Her curiosity piqued, as she was sure the Headmaster had intended, she asked the obvious question.

"And what precisely is this defense project you are working on?"

He looked excited as he started his explanation, his fork lightly tapping his plate as he talked.

"Well, the subject came up in Professor Moody's class. Students in the advanced class don't just need to learn shields and counters to dark spells, they need to be able to recognize them. Recognizing classes and patterns is all well and good, but first hand experience is needed to be able to recall required knowledge in the middle of a battle."

"But such is not possible, not without great risk to both the caster and the student."

"Not exactly. Actually casting the spells is dangerous, but there's no need to actually cast them. What we're working on is a device that can create the illusion of the spell and the caster. Allowing the student to practice, as if against a real opponent. Here."

He stared at the opposite wall where a man shimmered into view, and started casting several dark curses in succession. Nothing, of course, happened; she did not gape, much as she felt like doing so. The implications flew through her mind.

"And the device you create will do the same?"

"Yes."

"I should like to commission you..." her lips thinned as she was cut off by a laugh from the boy.

"The devices I create will be tethered to the castle. Surely you do not believe that I will give these to the government that is actively preventing my escape. The corrupt legal system that circumvents it's own judicial standards when it sees fit."

"And if things were to change, if the Goblet of Fire were made available to you? Would that change your position?"

The boy shook his head, "They aren't a bargaining chip, it would be irresponsible of me to make the technology available to your government. It is for the people. Be assured, I have some experience with technology that is unduplicatable."

She gave the boy a shrewd look, she knew that she would not be able to change his mind as things stood. However, once Fudge was removed, perhaps the boy's opinion could be changed. It was not only these training illusions, the boy had so much he could offer, if he could only be convinced.

She decided it was time to get what she had come for.

"I see that we have started this in the wrong fashion. Let me begin as I should have. Mr. Potter, I am the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement..."

She was once more cut off by the boy. She was not used to being treated so, except during heated moments on the Wizengammot.

"Yes, and as head, you supervise both the Aurors and the Judiciary. Do you realize that most advanced societies understand the need to keep the two separate."

"I am not here to discuss the structure of our government or the flaws therein." He seemed intent on keeping her on her toes.

"I know why you are here. You wish to do a threat assessment. I understand fully why you wish to do so, my appearance as well as recent events portend a great potential for change, both good and bad. Those sent before you always did ask the wrong questions. I am curious to see if you will ask the right ones."

She stiffened, giving him a piercing look. "How many more are there like you?"

"How many have my ability?"

She nodded.

"I suppose there are a great many with a greater scientific understanding than I do, and several with a similar or greater understanding of magic." He put an odd emphasis on the word magic.

"But if I may be so immodest, I must say that I am singular in my ability to manipulate energy on my own. No one else can do as I can in that regard."

"How did it come to be, this blending of science and magic?"

"What has your niece told you of the class I teach?"

"She has told me that you claim that magic is merely science."

"Yes and no. Science is the study of the world around us, it is a practice. Physics is the study of how everything in the universe interacts together, down to the tiniest particle. Now many thousands of years ago, when man looked up into the sky and saw lightning, he equated it with magic, and mysticism. When scientists began to understand what lightning was, it was not the blending of magic and science, it was science explaining that what was thought to be magic was nothing of the sort. When you start to understand where the power we wield comes from, when you use scientific principals to observe the universe around you, you will come to see that there is no magic, only natural laws that were inadequately explained before. I am not offering a blending of science and the power you call magic, I am offering an understanding of that power using science."

Her niece had told her much the same in one of her letters, but it still seemed wrong, as though the universe was fundamentally different than how she had seen it her whole life.

"You still have not answered my question, where did this detailed understanding of magic through science come from? How have you come to understand science in this matter?"

"When I was nine years old, I discovered that I had abilities that I could not explain. With the help of some friends, I used a scientific approach to try to explain where these abilities came from. We identified the anatomical and biochemical differences in my body that separated me from those without abilities, from there we started to understand how these differences manifested in my body, and we came to understand and qualify the energy that my body uses."

The next question had been keeping her awake most nights of late.

"And these friends of yours, the ones you say have a deeper grasp of science than yourself, they are muggles?"

"Yes, up until the day I arrived at this castle, my godfather was the only other wizard I had met."

"He did not attempt to stop you from breaking the statue?"

"I'm afraid that by the time he managed to find me, it was a bit late to consider the statute."

"What are they planning?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Muggle scientists have been studying magic in conjunction with the American Military, and they have not disclosed the existence of magic to the world at large. They are doing something with this knowledge; they are keeping this secret for a reason, and I wish to know why."

"Firstly, let me assure you, there is no plan against the wizarding world. As well, the friends I worked with to understand my powers are not a part of the American Military, nor do they share their scientific knowledge with them. There are some associated with the military who have a passing knowledge of magic, and they are doing some fascinating research in a similar field right now. As to why they are keeping it a secret, my friends believe that there is a great responsibility that accompanies a deep scientific knowledge. They do not share technology or knowledge with those they believe are not ready, lest it is used irresponsibly. In my classes, I teach basic knowledge; I am trying to bring your people to a state where they can begin to be ready for a greater understanding of the universe. And of course, to the American Military, keeping secrets is second nature. They understand that there is a secret society that they have unknowingly coexisted with for centuries, they no more wish to see how the public will react than you do. They no more wish for open conflict than you do."

She wished that she could be so easily assured. She was glad that no one else was around to hear her next question.

"And just how many of your 'friends' reside on this planet?"

"I'm afraid I don't quite know what it is you are referring to."

"Mr. Potter, there is no point in denying what countless people saw with their own eyes yesterday. Two vessels, not of this world, made quite a show in the States. I think you are beyond deniability."

"Your own government seems to be doing quite a good job of denying it. Since I first arrived here, indeed since I met Sirius, practical jokes have seemed to be quite in vogue in the wizarding world. So much so that in spite of what was seen, your consensus is that this was a practical joke on the muggle world. There is plenty of room, I feel, for deniability. At least for now."

"For now?"

"Who can say?" He paused to enjoy some of the candied yams. "Hypothetically speaking though, how would your populace react should they find that there was life outside of this planet, if there was a vast galactic community that the Earth was suddenly thrust into?"

"Such would depend on if there was a perceived threat in this revelation."

"One can always perceive a threat in the face of the unknown," said Harry.

"I suppose that there would be multiple views on the matter, but two main views would arise, split down old lines," said Amelia.

"Those who cling to the past, and those who await the future?"

"In a manner of speaking."

"And those who cling to the past?"

"They will likely cling even harder to isolationist views, indeed even those more progressive may find ignoring the issue altogether to be preferable. Especially since we are already a hidden society. There will be others though who will call for action."

"What sort of action?"

"There have always been those who believe that we should have a controlling presence in muggle government. They will of course be ignored, as they always have been. Most are sensible enough to understand that that can't really solve any problems. I do fear however that such a revelation might be tied in to anti-muggle propaganda. Into fear that there may be powers out there that could be used against us."

"Well then I suppose it is for the best that this is all just a hypothetical."

She looked at the time piece on the mantle.

"I must return to the ministry," she looked at the headmaster. "Thank you for arranging this interview." She looked at the young man besides her. "Your time has been appreciated, but I have a feeling that I will be asking you for some more of it soon. For the wizarding society, it is easy enough to view the spaceships over America as an elaborate hoax. But the muggle government does not have the luxury of magic for a scapegoat. I wonder if perhaps there may soon be a disclosure on the matter."

"We shall have to see," said the boy, smiling as he shook her hand once more.

"Madame Bones," the headmaster said from behind his desk. "A pleasure as always."

She left using the floo without any more fanfare, her thoughts running quickly in her mind. Arriving back at the ministry, she headed for her office and closed the door after her, not really noticing the excitement happening around her.

Mr. Potter had spoken vaguely during the interview, but one thing was clear, the world was changing, quite drastically, and the wizarding world was not yet ready for it. She pulled out parchment and a quill and started writing out some ideas for a while until there was a nock at her door, the problems outside were still at hand. She vanished the parchment and waved her wand at the door. Space aliens would have to wait.

IIIIIII

"So do you think that they're going to disclose everything, or do you think they'll just pretend that they're as shocked as everyone else?" Sirius asked Harry after he had finished his meeting with Madame Bones.

"Well at this point there's no good way to reasonably deny the existence of life off world. I think that the truth of the matter is perhaps less frightening than what the public will conceive on it's own."

It was ironic, Harry thought, that both of the ships that had convinced the world that they were not alone in the galaxy had in fact been designed by humans from Earth.

"There are many who will be angry with the government for keeping this secret. Politics on Tollana may have spoiled me, but I can't imagine the various world politicians being eager to admit that they've been involved in the biggest coverup in history."

"Well President Hays doesn't have to worry about reelection, but it will still take a two thirds vote from the nations on the security council to allow a disclosure. As I understand it they have already prepared for such an eventuality; they have already agreed on what must remain redacted. In the end though, they all have to know that their involvement will come to light eventually, they can't expect the public's ire will lessen if they don't take this opportunity now to disclose. I wouldn't mind being a fly on the wall at home world command right now, or at the IOA. Really, as far as I'm concerned, disclosure, at least partial, is the best option right now."

"Perhaps now, then, I should give you an opportunity for full disclosure."

Harry groaned, he should have locked Sirius in the ship.

"Have you been snooping around?"

"Just needed to stretch my legs, chase my tail. A good thing to, or I might not have found out that there's a Yule Ball coming up. The group of young ladies I overheard seemed to have one young man of my acquaintance in mind for a date."

Harry blushed for a moment, before he instructed his body to normalize the blood flow in his capillaries. There had been quite a few students who had started flirting with him since the Ball had been announced. He really didn't want to have this conversation with Sirius again.

"There are just as many girls mooning over Cedric and Victor."

"So who are you going to ask out?" Sirius asked with a grin.

"I wasn't planning on asking anyone out."

"This isn't Tollana Harry, I don't think any of the girls are going to ask you."

"I wish that were true," Harry said shaking his head.

Sirius sat up in his seat. "Someone asked you out. Who?"

"I don't even know, not that I cared to find out, but this older girl, who I'm pretty certain I've never talked to before, just came up to me and asked me out to the ball."

"Was she pretty?"

"That's hardly the point," Harry said in exasperation. Though truth be told, she had been.

"Well isn't there anyone here who you're crushing on?"

"I don't 'crush' on people," Harry said almost indignantly, he was mature enough to understand the difference between infatuation and compatibility.

"Oh come on," Sirius said. "Surely you've had a crush on someone before."

"Well, sure, I guess. When I was younger."

"Well then, who was your first?"

This time Harry was too embarrassed even to control the blush that crept up his face.

"No one in particular," he said, his voice breaking. Damn the timing.

"Nice try," Sirius crowed, "but now you have to tell."

"Nope," Harry said, casting around for something to sidetrack his godfather.

"Well how old were you?"

Harry smiled ruefully, he'd been twelve. "A herd of horses couldn't drag this story out of me."

"Harry, surely we've known each other long enough for you to know that I am much more stubborn than a herd of horses."

Harry groaned, and wondered if Sirius' interest stemmed from his inability to recall his own formative years.

"Not even a herd of Siri'i then."

Sirius sighed in exasperation, "Well did you even ask her out?"

"No," Harry said with a sigh.

"Oh come on, Mr. Evil-Overlord-Vanquisher couldn't ask out a girl he liked?"

"It wasn't a matter of gumption, asking her out just wasn't an option."

"Why not."

"She was three times my age," Harry exclaimed, and immediately wished he hadn't.

Sirius gasped, with a look of glee. "You had a crush on Sam."

Harry groaned once more. He wasn't going to live this down.

"It was only for a little while, when I was twelve," he said in his defense.

"You make it sound like there's something wrong with having a crush on her."

"Well it was stupid, wasn't it. There I was daydreaming about how I'd get her to fall in love with me, I put serious thought into how I could get over the age barrier."

"So what happened."

"Reality happened. I'd gone to Earth, under the pretense of wanting to inspect a new bit of technology they'd uncovered on a mission, and I had this speech all ready for her when..."

"When what?" Sirius asked as Harry paused.

"When Dr. Thadeus came in and said that there was cheesecake in the commissary, and I said 'Ooh cheesecake!' and Sam just laughed and ruffled my hair like she thought it was endearing that I still got excited by sweets, like a little kid. You know there was a bit after I started puberty, when I started to think of myself almost like an adult in a kids body. I had more experience and knowledge in the real world than most adults, I was starting to have adult feelings. But I wasn't; I wasn't a kid, but I really wasn't an adult either. As much as Sam respected me as a scientist and as a warrior, she was still able to see the kid in me, even when I couldn't."

"And what, just like that you stopped wanting to snog her?"

"Well no, but I realized I had no business doing so. Eventually, I got over myself and things went back to the way they were. Sam though, she was there for me from the beginning, before I realized that I couldn't do everything on my own, that I didn't want to. She was a confidant and a friend, and I didn't want to ruin that by bringing my hormones into the mix."

"Well hasn't there been anyone since then?"

"Well sure, but it isn't like I could see myself galavanting around the galaxy with them by my side. It isn't every day that you meet someone who you can say, 'I'd like to spend the rest of my life with them.'"

"Well you can't just wait till you find the one. I mean come on, look around you, you're in a boarding school, there's got to be a ton of kids your age dating right now. Do you think that all of them think they're dating the person they're going to spend the rest of their lives with? No, they're having fun, exploring themselves and the opposite sex. Which you should be doing."

"Actually, two students turned up missing this morning. They left notes saying that they were eloping."

"Yes well, you don't need to take things that far. But seriously, you have an opportunity here to have some fun, and do something normal for your age. Don't look at a girl and think, 'well I don't think I'd like to spend eternity with her,' find a girl you'd like to spend an evening with. In fact, Mr. Professor, it's your homework assignment."

"You're assigning me a date?" Harry deadpanned.

"Yes, and I'm being serious, I think this is important."

Harry sighed, he wanted to laugh at the idea, the image of himself in a romantic relationship just seemed surreal. But it wasn't as though he hadn't desired such. For the first time in a long while he was grounded where he was. Perhaps it was time to explore a part of himself he had largely ignored.

"I'll give it a shot," he said.

Sirius grinned at his success, and the talk turned to technical matters when Nol joined them for lunch. His research was coming along, and he felt he would soon be able to conduct a new experiment. Harry had been doing his own research following Merlin's notes on the soul and ascension.

IIIIIII

"And coming up at the top of the hour, we're going live to New Orleans where Jessica has been following the impromptu gathering of UFO chasers and Alien hunters. But first, we're going to Dan, our correspondent at the White House, who has an update for us. Dan what's happening over there?"

"Well Dave, we still haven't heard anything from any of the government agencies who surely tracked the ship as it crossed over US airspace. But we have just heard from White House Press Secretary Jenny Ryan, that the President will be addressing the nation this evening at eight 'o clock pacific time. As well, similar announcements were made in China, Russia, England, and France. Now there are two things to note here. First, they will all be making their addresses at the same time. And second, these countries all comprise the permanent member nations of the UN Security Council. This suggests that this is a joint announcement. There is a lot of speculation going on here right now, but many believe that tonight the president will be announcing that we have known about the existence of extra terrestrials for some time now."

"Well Dan we're all eagerly waiting for that, can you tell us how the exodus is going."

"Traffic is still pretty backed up, as many people are still evacuating major cities, and 'heading for the hills.' There were a few altercations on the highway earlier over a stalled vehicle, but law enforcement has been out in force since this all started."

"Thank you Dan, and for those of you watching at home, you can watch the president's address live tonight here on KLX9. Here with us now is Prof. Richard Bates, from Cal Tech. Professor, having analyzed the footage, what can you tell us about the alien space ships?"

"Quite a lot actually. Most of the footage was of a poor quality, but some of the video gave us quite a lot to go over.

"Now," said Dave. "You wouldn't expect an alien spaceship to have anything that we would be able to recognize, you would think that everything you saw would be, well, alien."

"Well that's where we see a dichotomy between the two ships that were seen over new Orleans. Take a look at the first ship that appeared. This footage was taken with a high speed camera by a production crew in Louisiana. Now as the ship goes by over head, we can see here, here, and here, objects that closely resemble dish receivers. We can see numerous antennae, and here we see what looks like a rather large missile launcher. Now as the ship approaches, we can see this opening here that many speculate is a bay door, possibly for smaller ships to land in. And here as the ship flies past, we can see what many, including myself, believe are thrust engines."

"But the second ship was different?"

"Yes, and we were lucky, this was the only footage we've found of the second ship. Take a look again at the first ship. Everything we see, has a purpose, a function. The ship was clearly designed with functionality in mind. The second ship now, which is about a tenth of the size of the first one, has almost no features that we can attribute a function to. The exterior is completely smooth, there are no antennae, no discernible weapons systems. Where the first ship was designed for utility, this one looks like it was designed to be elegant. It's like comparing a naval destroyer to a yacht."

"Now have there been any theories to explain what witnesses saw over New Orleans?"

"Well there have been many theories."

"I suppose many of them are quite a bit out there."

"Oh I suppose that they're all 'out there,' but of the theories that are grounded in what we believe to be possible, I believe that only two of them are very likely. The first is that a stable artificial wormhole was opened up in front of the two ships, while the second theory postulates that the ships entered what theorists are calling supra-space."

"Now I think most of our viewers at home are familiar with the concept of a wormhole, but I don't think I've ever heard of supra-space."

"Well supra-space is only a concept that has recently been properly postulated, based on recent experiments with the CERN Large Haydron Colidor. The term was coined by Dr. Muir from MIT. The theory states that superimposed over our universe, over the 'space' that we occupy is a layer of space, within which the laws of physics, as we understand them, are different. It has been theorized that it is possible for matter to enter into supra-space, and that it would then be possible to travel faster than the speed of light."

"Well Professor Bates, I wish we could hear more, but I'm afraid that this is all the time we have for you. Thank you for joining us in the studio."

"It was my pleasure."

"And now we head out to the Vatican where foreign news correspondent Jim Carrow has been covering the mass gathering of Catholics taking place now. Jim, how are you faring over there? I understand many see the sighting as a sign of the apocalypse."

IIIIIII

"Hey Daniel," Harry said, after his call had been transferred to the man's office.

"Hello Harry, have you been keeping up with the news?"

"I have, you're going public?"

"We are, I'm afraid I'll be dodging reporters for a while."

"Easy enough to do when you can leave the planet."

"I'm afraid that that won't be as easy for you."

"I suppose all your reports on me will fall under the freedom of information act."

"We're redacting the bit where we know about a secret society of people with super powers living among us. But you're going to be in there."

"I'll deal with it. How are repairs going?"

"As I understand it, they're pulling all of the affected power relays. She'll be back in service in a month after they're certain this won't happen again."

Harry would have to talk to Sam in order to get a more technical explanation.

"So you've seen several societies introduced to the galaxy around them, how do you think the public will take it."

"How will they handle the state of the galaxy, or how will they handle finding out about a secret war that's almost destroyed the planet a few times?" asked Daniel.

"I can't imagine that going well," said Harry

"It won't, but we've been prepared for this for a while. The Prometheus will do a flyby to assure the public that what they saw wasn't part of an alien invasion. We were hoping that the Libertas might make an appearance."

"Sure, she can even do a few tricks"

"Will you be able to watch the broadcast?"

"I patched in to the NORAD communications system, I think I can manage to pick up a satellite signal."

"Well make sure you catch it, you may see a familiar face or two."

"You?"

"Among others."

"I bet Rodney wishes he were on Earth now. His big chance to show off to the rest of the scientific community. I know he's hated not being able to publish papers under his real name, or with half of what he's discovered."

Daniel laughed, "The same could be said for all of the scientists in the program, me too for that matter, we came from a community where it was publish or perish, and we've all been asked to keep our heads down and keep all of our discoveries to ourselves. I have a few dozen papers that I've written, ready to publish if we ever go public, Sam and the others do as well."

"I suppose that there are a lot of soldiers, as well, who never received recognition for their service. A lot of families who were never told the truth about how their sons and daughters died."

"It will be nice to not have to lie to the families of fallen soldiers. But speaking of medals, I hear that you will be in line for a couple."

"I hardly need more, which ones?"

"The Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Congressional Gold Medal. The Highest civilian awards they can give. Not that you haven't earned them many times over, but I think they'll be rushing to give awards, try to bring as much pomp and circumstance into the matter."

"Try to distract everyone from over a decade of secrets and coverups."

"Something like that," Daniel said. "Well, I have to go, I'm off to DC to help brief the White House Press Secretary."

"Oh, well have fun."

"I don't know about that. She's helped spread some stories for us before, without being told that they were coverups."

"Well let's hope that getting to meet someone who's officially saved the planet will be enough to offset being made to look a patsy."

Daniel laughed, "Well I certainly won't put it that way."

"Bye Daniel, have fun on the telly."

"Bye Harry, I hope you get out of there soon."

Harry shared the sentiment. He shut down the connection.

IIIIIII

There was a sort of nervous tension that permeated the school. News had reached the students that the Headmaster had left for a meeting of the International Confederation of Wizards. Though as Harry understood it, it was not to discuss the possibility of space aliens, but rather to discuss what they saw as a breech of the statute of secrecy. Indeed, many students seemed certain that at any moment the muggle world would point an accusatory finger at sorcery, and the witch trials would start all over again. He had passed one group of students who were discussing the need to prepare the school for a muggle invasion.

Harry was grateful, at least, that this misconception seemed to have distracted the school population from the upcoming ball, and girls had stopped trying to garner his attention.

"Excuse me, Harry?" said a girls voice behind him.

Of course there was usually an exception to every rule.

"What can I do for you...Padma?" he asked, turning around, and recognizing the girl from his physics class. She hadn't been one of the girls fawning over him since the announcement of the ball, and she certainly wasn't trying to dazzle him now. She was only half looking at him, while she kept the rest of her attention on the newspaper article from that morning, about the 'Muggle Baiting'. He could see that many parts had been highlighted or circled.

"It's just..." she looked like she didn't know what to say. "We aren't stupid, you know," her nervous tone had suddenly taken an indignant edge to it.

Harry found himself unsure how to respond. "Um..."

"I mean you can fool the purebloods and some of us half bloods, but anyone who is passably familiar with muggle science knows that half of what you talk about in class is decades beyond what any other scientist on this planet understands. Which is why I used to think you'd disappeared to the future. But this," she waved the paper in front of his face, "it's all real, isn't it?" The entire diatribe was spoken in a rush, and said accusingly.

"Padma, having had you in my class, I know you aren't stupid. And I don't think that most of your people are stupid either, just woefully ignorant." Padma looked like she was going to protest this, but he held up his hands. "Can you honestly say that they aren't. I have never denied keeping secrets, and after what happened, I didn't expect that much would stay secret for long."

Padma visibly deflated, "So is it true?"

"That still isn't my secret to tell. Just have patience."

"Is there danger?"

Harry considered the question, the galaxy was much more peaceful than it had once been. "A lot less than you face from this Voldemort fellow." She flinched at the name. "In the end though, you must reconcile yourself to the fact that the world is changing, for better or for worse, I cannot say, but I'm optimistic."

They started walking towards the Great Hall where lunch was being served.

"While I have you here I noticed you haven't picked a topic for your paper, the end of term is coming up." Though it wasn't as though he was teaching a class that had been approved by the board of governors. He knew that her grade in his class wouldn't be considered by future employers.

"Oh, well I haven't been able to decide. There are a few topics I've been thinking about, but I'll have a decision on Monday morning."

"Well if you need any advice, I'm more than willing to give it."

As they continued walking, Harry realized abruptly that Parma was probably the sort of girl he should be asking to the ball. She was smart, insightful, and she was also very pretty, and roughly Harry's own age. Was it an issue that he was her teacher? It was not as though he held any power over her.

He opened his mouth, a little nervously, to bring the conversation around to something more conducive to asking a girl out, when his perimeter alarm alerted him to someone coming quite quickly from behind them. He turned around, several defensives at the ready. But it was only Padma's sister, who ignored Harry completely as she rushed up to her twin. Padma's twin was not interested in spaceships, it seemed to Harry, as the girl announced in a high pitched rush that some boy had just asked her to the ball. Padma looked apologetically at Harry as her sister dragged her off to give details, trying to look interested in the matter.

Harry made his way to lunch alone.

IIIIIII

He hadn't climbed a tree for fun since the last time he had visited the Nox, but while it wasn't as exciting as flying, the physical activity was relaxing. But relaxation wasn't his goal as he climbed one of the gangly trees in the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest. Clinging to a branch with his bent legs, he swung himself upside down, letting himself hang by his knees. His hair hung limp and his arms swung below him, and just in front of him there was a quickly stifled gasp.

"Hi there," Harry said. "Nothing like a trip to the forest to clear the head, huh."

Ginny Weasley gave him a suspicious glare. "Are you following me now?"

"Not at all, I just wanted to get away from all of the attention in the castle and thought a walk about the grounds would be a good getaway. When I saw you heading for the forest, I remembered what fun a good climb could be." He swung himself back up and perched on the branch. "So, what are you looking for?"

"Who says I'm looking for anything?"

"A friend of mine once told me that the forest hides many things. I suppose the Forbidden Forest must hide a lot."

"There's supposed to be an accromantula colony in here somewhere, they aren't very active during the day."

Harry quickly looked up the creature and suppressed the urge to scold her. They were very dangerous, day or night.

"I don't suppose you'd like to join me for a climb, before you brave the king of the spiders."

A perfunctory 'no thank you' on the tip of her tongue, Harry cut her off. "It's ok if you can't, I can teach you."

Her eyebrows raised at the challenge, she took a couple of steps backwards before lunging at a lower branch and swinging herself up, almost unseating Harry. Before Harry could reposition himself, she had leapt up higher still. Harry grinned, it seemed that there was to be a race to the top. Pushing power to his legs, he leapt upwards and out, high up into an adjacent tree. Catching himself, he swung about for a bit before hurling himself higher still in yet another tree. He could see Ginny climbing close to the top out of the corner of his eye, and he used the spring of the branch he was on to leap to a branch above her. He climbed a few more limbs before he got to the branches that bowed ominously under his weight.

Ginny caught up a moment later, a bit out of breath.

"Nice view of the valley from here, huh?"

"How did you do that?"

"Hm?"

"How did you leap like that?"

"Oh, well, I just push my power into my legs."

Ginny looked like she wanted a more in depth answer, but Harry had trouble thinking of words that she would be able to understand. Instead he looked out over the lake and the rest of the grounds that spread out in small foothills.

"Of course, the view from the top of that mountain must be spectacular, but I'm afraid I can't get that far away."

"You don't seem like the sort who likes climbing trees."

"It's important to have fun now and then."

"But that's not why you were climbing a tree today," she said challengingly

"I've been curious to know if you've felt different since that day I healed you on the pitch."

"That was you?" she said accusingly. "What did you do to me? You can't just make people... feel better."

Harry shook his head, "There was a residue of some very dark magic on your mind, it would have dissipated eventually, I just helped it along."

She looked surprised to hear of the residue at first, but then her face turned dark. "You had no right, I was supposed to feel that, I deserved..." she cut herself off, and she looked away.

"You're right. I should have asked before I did it. But Ginny, I can't think of anything you could have done, to have deserved such a curse on you."

"Well of course you couldn't," she said bitterly. "You're perfect, aren't you. You couldn't possibly imagine letting your own fear and stupidity get someone killed." With a glare, she started climbing down, not looking back.

Harry considered surrounding himself with an inertial dampening field, and jumping down to meet her at the bottom, but he didn't think a display of power was what the situation called for. He knew enough of psychology to recognize Ginny's self destructive behavior for what it was, and had decided to try to help her, and her recent outburst had given him more to work with. He had heard rumor of a boy who had died, in what would be Ginny's first year, but no one seemed to know enough of what had actually happened, and Ginny had never come up in the conversation. He hadn't thought going in to this, that he would find anything in Ginny Weasley's life that would relate to what he had gone through though.

Ginny had reached the base of the tree and continued on into the forest at a brisk pace. He took off after her, staying a few paces behind her, trying to let her calm down, thinking of what to say.

She turned on him, "Stop following me."

He held up his hands. "Ginny wait, I really do know what that's like."

Her face screwed up in anger. "Oh, that's bollocks, and you know it."

Harry closed his eyes and swallowed before fording onward.

"When I was nine, I was kidnaped by a parasitic organism that wrapped itself around my spinal chord and took over my body. I tried to use my magic to push it out but it manipulated my nerves to torture me until long after I had wished for death. I told myself that I could push it out, but I was scared, scared to fail, scared to feel that pain again, so I told myself that I'd wait for the right moment. I waited for six months; there were so many opportunities, but still I was scared and still I waited, until I had waited too long. Until I had to feel my hand break the neck of a boy younger than me. I waited and he died for it. I freed myself but it was too late. I used to let that guilt consume me, but not any more. I found a way to cope, and I can help you too."

"You're lying, do you expect me to believe that? Who told you what I did, was it Ron?"

"I told you before that I once stood on a ledge like you did, but there weren't any cushioning charms at the bottom for me. I wasn't lying then and I'm not lying now. At the time, I just couldn't imagine ever feeling alright again."

Ginny stared at him piercingly for a long time, breathing heavily, her face unreadable. "What made you turn away?"

"There was someone who needed my help, and I had to give it to them, even if I couldn't see how. But I have never regretted that decision, the pain never quite left me, but it got better over time, there was room in my life for more than just the worst thing that had happened to me."

"Yeah, well we can't all be heroes like you."

"You don't need to have super powers to be a hero. If you are looking to atone for the mistakes of your past, there is so much good to be done in this world, just waiting for someone who wants to help."

"What, you want me to go out and feed starving kids in Africa?"

"If that's what does it for you, sure, but I'm not here to tell you what to do. I want to help you figure it out for yourself."

She just looked at him for a moment, before her gaze turned inward, her shoulders slumped. "I'm just so tired of it all."

"That's understandable, you've been carrying a burden for a while now, but it doesn't have to be like this."

"What do I need to do?"

"Tell me what happened, we'll go on from there."

IIIIIIII

His mind healers on Tollana had always discouraged alcohol, or any drug for that matter. The damage done to his mind, by what he now knew was many years in the company of dementors, made chemical dependence likely in their opinion. Of course Sirius thought that they might be biased, their entire society was squeaky clean, many Tollans abstained and he'd never seen one inebriated or otherwise impaired.

The problem was that he wasn't supposed to drink, Nol chose not to, and Harry was still too young to, and there wasn't a drop to drink on the entire ship. So with the broadcast about to start, Sirius felt like something was missing, without being able to toast the new era for humanity. It occurred to him that he should be able to transfigure some juice into wine, but he couldn't for the life of him remember the incantation. Where would it start? Bacchus definitely. He ran towards the dining area and pulled some juice out, pouring two glasses full. He pulled out his wand. How would it go? Vinno, Bacchus, Sucrose. "Bacchus Decosucrose", he said confidently. He was rewarded with a face full of juice. He cleaned up with a wave of his wand.

"It is starting Sirius," Nol called out. He poured two glasses of juice and walked back into the rec room where several displays showed broadcasts from around the world. Nol had arranged them so that audio was displayed as text beneath each screen, translated as needed. The display showing the seal of the president of the colonies was the only one that had audio. He handed a glass to Nol.

"To the future."

Nol raised his glass in response.

One by one a figure walked into view on each broadcast. Each one standing before the flags of their respective countries.

"My fellow Americans," the President began. "In 1996 we made contact with life on another planet."

IIIIII

"Hello Harry, what can I do for you this evening."

"Headmaster," Harry nodded his head in greeting. "I need you to tell me everything you can about Tom Riddle's diary."

A/N: Good news for me, bad news for you. I'm joining the military, and if I am not disqualified for medical reasons, I may be doing basic in April. In which case this story will go on hiatus.


	12. 11 Shadow

A/N Thank you to everyone who wished me luck. I finalized the enrollment process, and I am now in the Army National Guard. Good news for you is that I don't leave for boot camp till June, so I might have another chapter left in me before I go for ten weeks of Basic and twenty of AIT.

Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to anything in this work of fiction. It is for fun only that I write it.

Shadow

"William, stop changing the channel, it's going to start soon."

"I just want to check the score real quick," his son responded, flipping to ESPN and back.

There was a knock at the door, Mark checked his watch. There were still a couple of minutes till the address was going to start. He went to the door to see who it was. He hoped it wasn't Mrs. Lennox from next door; once she started talking, it was hard to get away.

Opening the door, he was surprised to see his sister, Samantha, dressed in her Air Force uniform.

"Hey Mark."

"Sam," he said. "What are you doing here."

"Just popped by for a visit. Wanted to see the kids." She stood there expectantly.

"Come in," he said, giving her a quick hug.

"William, Jean, your Aunt Sam's come to visit," he said as they walked into the den.

"Aunt Sam," exclaimed Jean. She ran up to give her aunt a hug. "Do you want to see my science fair project, you helped me get an A on the last one."

"I'm sure Aunt Sam wants to watch the broadcast first," he told his youngest.

"I'd love to see it later." Samantha told Jean.

"Come sit down," he said. "We have some catching up to do. You know I almost expected to see you as one of the guest scientists talking on all the news channels about alien propulsion systems or whatnot." Jean went back to her book while William flipped back and forth on the television, checking on his game.

"Well everything I know about alien propulsion systems is highly classified."

He laughed, "I don't suppose you've been seeing UFOs at your deep space telemetry lab, have you?"

"I've seen quite a bit more than that actually, but I don't work in deep space telemetry, I never have."

He looked at her in surprise; she sounded serious. "Sam?"

"Mark, I wanted you to hear from me instead of seeing this on the television later. Back in '94 I was part of a team of scientists working on an ancient artifact called a Stargate."

"Stargate?"

"Two stargates linked create a stable wormhole that allows almost instantaneous transportation. A long gone race of aliens left thousands of them out across multiple galaxies. I've been going on missions around the galaxy for the past decade now."

Mark found himself blinking owlishly before he started laughing. "You had me going there for a moment. My little sister fighting space aliens."

She grinned at him, turning to the television where President Hays had walked onscreen.

"It's starting," Jean exclaimed.

"My fellow Americans," the President began. "In 1996 we made contact with life on another planet."

He paused here, and Mark thought his heart might have skipped a beat. Of course he was expecting something along those lines, but just hearing it...

"In 1928, a long buried device was uncovered in Giza. It was not until 1994 that a team of scientists were able to activate the device, which we call a Stargate."

This time he was certain his heart skipped a beat. He looked at his sister, who was sitting almost apprehensively, staring at the television.

"The Stargate created a portal, a stable wormhole that connected to a stargate on another planet called by its occupants 'Abidos'. The team that went through discovered that there were humans on this planet. Humans who were slaves to alien beings who called themselves the Goa'uld. Humans, whose ancestors were taken from Earth through the Stargate and herded around the galaxy like cattle, and used for labor for thousands of years by the Goa'uld. Our ancestors rebelled against the Goa'uld and buried the Stargate here on Earth ending their dominion here on earth, and we were largely forgotten over the following millennia as the Goa'uld warred among themselves."

"After that one expedition to another planet, it was too late to close Pandora's Box. That first expedition ended without drawing enemy scrutiny to Earth, but we were found by them regardless a year later. The Goa'uld turned their attention onto Earth, and in the millennia since we had buried the Stargate, they had developed starships fast enough to easily reach Earth in short order. A tactical advantage was needed if we were to face off against these aliens who ruled across the galaxy."

"Teams were sent through the Stargate to worlds across the galaxy to find advanced technology, to find allies. Over the intervening years, we made allies and formed a coalition that fought the Goa'uld, and finally, broke the stranglehold they held over the galaxy. Along the way we made great leaps in our understanding of science and technology."

"The ship that was seen flying over the country was the USS Daedalus. It was built here on Earth using our understanding of alien technology. While testing a new upgrade, it suffered a systems failure as it attempted to enter Earth's orbit, and was rescued by a ship of an ally of Earth."

"That's my cue," said Sam.

"What," he asked, distracted from the speech.

"I'll see you all in an hour, though you'll be seeing me onscreen soon."

"You're leaving?" asked Jean, who clearly did not understand what was going on.

Sam just smiled, and then to the consternation of them all, she was replaced by a bright white light and disappeared.

"Dad look!" his son exclaimed.

He turned his attention back to the television where his sister was appearing in a flash of light along with a few others.

IIIIIIII

"Are you kidding, of course you should say it. You deserve it, they deserve it. You should say it."

"Jack..." Daniel started.

"Here, just try it out. Just say, 'I told you so.'"

"I told you so. There see, got that out of my system."

The General threw his hands up in exasperation. "Teal'c back me up here."

"You did indeed tell them Dr. Jackson. You do deserve the respect of those who once dismissed you. It is your right to point this out."

"And it is my right to be a gracious winner. It isn't as though everyone isn't going to know it anyway. Everyone will know that I was right."

"Alright, let me ask you, in 2000, we blew up Apophis' fleet, killed Chronos, and generally kicked ass. That year what article did Expedition Weekly print in their Where Are They Now section for your thirty fifth birthday?"

"I'm not holding a grudge."

"I believe they called you deranged," said Teal'c.

"They made fun of you on your birthday, and I for one think that they deserve to have egg on their face."

"I believe that they are ready for us," Teal'c said as the Sergeant manning the console gave them the thumbs up.

In a flash of white, the small control room around them was replaced by the White House press room. It had already been decided that Daniel would go first, give a sort of, we are not alone 101. Jack strode up to the podium first.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen, my name is General Jack O'neill, and I run Homeworld Command. I would like to introduce the first speaker tonight, a man who I worked closely with when, as a Colonol, I headed one of the expedition teams that traveled through the Stargate. Dr. Daniel Jackson was hand picked for the Stargate program because of his understanding of Ancient Egypt and Egyptian Hyroglyphs, which led to us first being able to activate the Stargate. Though, it was his skills as a linguist and as a diplomat, as well as his innate ability to adapt to new cultures, that made him an invaluable member of my team as we fought the Goa'uld. Today he heads the Interplanetary Treaty Organization and helps foster peaceful cooperation across cultural boundaries. And to all you Egyptilogists and historians out there," he heard Daniel give an almost imperceivable sigh. "You can all look forward to his future publications which will revolutionize your field."

He turned around and gave a small nod to Daniel, who walked up to the podium. When Daniel had finished talking about the vast array of cultures that spanned the galaxy- some human, and some not; the similarities and the differences; the works that had been done to create a stable galaxy- he answered questions from the congregated press before stepping down. Jack walked forward to similarly introduce Teal'c, as a man who had sacrificed everything for what he believed was right, and sparked a revolution.

IIIIIII

"I can't believe I'm stuck here while everyone else gets to make headlines."

"Rodney," said John Sheppard. "You're about to become one of the most respected scientists on Earth. Hell, they'll probably make action movies about us."

"All the good stories are probably still redacted. Hell, next to a teenager with superpowers, I doubt I'll get anything more than a B movie."

"There's more than enough fame to go around. You, Ronan, Teyla, and I could be the next summer blockbuster."

"You think?"

"Definitely."

"I could probably be played by Shia LaBeouf."

"Shia LaBeouf? Try Danny DeVito."

"Oh Danny DeVito," Rodney said scornfully, "What about you? Probably, Justin Long."

"Who?"

"Jeepers Creepers."

"Oh, that guy? Come on, I bet I could get Brad Pitt."

"You want to be played by the vampire pretty boy?"

"Come on, Fight Club, Oceans Eleven."

"Fight Club?"

"Woah, you did not just seriously ask me what Fight Club is. Come on, we're watching it, right now."

"We can't watch a movie right now," Rodney said, almost indignantly, "they're going to send the broadcast with this week's update in a half an hour."

"Yeah, it's a recording, it'll be there when we're finished. Fight Club does not wait for a press release. Come on, we'll get Ronan to watch with us."

IIIIII

Claire wasn't supposed to be in the White House Press Room. She was supposed to be on the streets of DC, getting ready to interview passers by to get the publics view on the Press Conference when it was over. She had prepared questions for the public, not for the Surgeon General who had just explained how alien technology was going to revolutionize the world. At that moment, as she raised her hand, she didn't know if she should thank her lucky stars Landon had decided to barricade himself in his basement in preparation for the alien apocalypse, or curse him. Success or failure could make or break her career. Yet she hadn't realized that she would care so much about the answer to the question she wanted to ask.

"In the back, third from the door."

It took Claire a moment to realize that it had been her who had been called on. Reminding herself that she was expected to be brief, she stood up.

"Claire Donovan, Capitol Hill News, Vice Admiral Collins, in your estimation, how many lives could have been saved if the Stargate program had not been kept secret, and these advances made readily available to the public."

There was a pause as many reporters who had been clamoring for attention waited to hear the Surgeon General's response.

"Miss Donovan, the fact of the matter is that many lives have already been saved by medical advances that were derived, without proper credit, from the Stargate program. Advances in how we manufacture drugs and vaccines; making them easier for the disadvantaged to have access to life saving treatments. Scientists involved with the Stargate program have helped guide research labs and institutes across the country to better understand the human body. In the end, many advances are still not at a stage where they can yet be made available to the public. Throughout the tenure of the Stargate program, scientists have been using advances to improve the quality of life for all mankind. Unfortunately, reverse engineering alien technology, for use on human patients is a long process, but in the years to come, these advances will be mastered, and our ability to care for and maintain the body will grow."

"But Vice Admiral, do you deny that more lives could have been saved with an earlier disclosure, more advances made, with more minds working with the knowledge that has been hidden. What was the price in human life that was put upon the Stargate secret?"

"Miss Donovan, the price was several years where the public at large did not live every day with the knowledge that hostile aliens with the power to sear all life off of this planet from orbit were several times at our doorstep, and only turned back by the slimmest margin. The toll that that can take on a people should not be ignored. But in the end, a price was paid so that we could fight a war for our very survival without interference. A war we won for ourselves and for countless millions throughout the galaxy. If you disagree with the idea of secrets for the sake of national, no global security, I can respect that. But these secrets were not kept for a whim, nor for nefarious purposes. They were kept for the survival of mankind, and if anyone feels that they were hurt by that secret, then you have my sympathies, but I stand by this administration, and the ones prior which kept this secret."

As the Surgeon General answered a question about DNA resequencing, Claire thought about the answers to her questions. Right or wrong, the price of secrecy had been high.

When she had been told to report to the White House, she hadn't expected to have the revelation hit her so close to home. Yet more and more since the Surgeon General had started speaking about declassified medical advances, Claire had to wonder if her father would have survived his cancer if not for the secrecy.

IIIIII

The General who had introduced everyone else walked back up to the podium, and Mark perked up when he realized that Sam was the only one who had not yet spoken.

"Whether its destroying alien armadas or stopping massive meteors from crashing into the Earth; it has seemed at times that Lieutenant Colonol Carter can do just about anything with science. As a member of my team on the battlefield and in her lab, she has proved her worth to this program time and time again. As our foremost expert on alien technology, she is here today to introduce you to the many technological changes that you will see soon in your every day lives."

For years Mark had thought his sister had given up the adventure of flying in a fighter jet for deep space telemetry. Now here she was, mild mannered scientist turned superhero, like she had popped out of a comic book.

His daughter was practically bouncing in her seat as Sam approached the podium.

"Hello," she said. "In a moment I will be talking to you about the many technologies that will be soon available to the public. But before I talk about advanced computers and an end to the global energy problem, I have a feeling most people at home have been very curious about the ship that flew across the country."

Sam looked at her watch and nodded her head.

"The image on your screen is the USS Daedalus, which by now, all of you have seen pictures of. Built right here in America, and sporting upgrades from off-world allies, the Daedalus is capable of flying to neighboring galaxies and standing toe to toe with enemy motherships. Right now she is being refitted after a systems upgrade went awry. But folks in LA might want to look to the skies in about ten seconds, because her sister ship, the Prometheus, will be doing a flyby, heading East. She will circle the planet before landing in New York's Central park where she will stay until tomorrow night. The cities she will be flying over should be scrolling across your screen now. You should also notice a smaller ship, which will literally be flying circles around the Prometheus. This is the ship that saved the Daedalus from a watery landing. Built by an off world ally, and one of the most advanced ships flying about our galaxy, the Libertas was actually designed by a, then, ten year old boy, which is why it is probably doing aerial acrobatics right now."

"The ships that we have built are portents of the technological changes that are soon to come to our civilization. The world of tomorrow is coming today, and I am happy to brief you on the technologies that will be changing our world for the better."

Mark listened raptly as his sister talked about the end of the age of oil, of new methods of mass production, and greater crop yields. Of virtual realities and alternate realities. Of colonies on other planets.

When she stepped down, the press conference was over. The view on the television showed two spaceships as they flew over the skies of major cities. There was a flash of light from his entryway.

IIIIII

Madame Bones felt the chill of the intervening years since her youth in her flesh. Had been feeling it since she had watched the Prime Minister speak on the television in the Ministry Muggle Adjunct Office. But she knew that she needed to work up a fire beneath her own feet if she were to accomplish what she wanted to accomplish that day.

Walking into the chambers of the Wizengammot, she took in the witches and wizards talking almost frantically. She avoided looking directly at any of those she had been dealing with, but in passing, she could see that many of them looked a little green. They were doing what she needed them to be doing though; talking to the others. She passed the Headmaster as she made her way to a seat. She wanted to sit in the middle, she wanted to face the Minister.

She had been laying down the ground work for the past few weeks, but this had come to a head far sooner than she had planned. Still though, she could not have asked for a better opening. She had known the Minister for some time, and he was anything if not predictable. She could well imagine how he would react. Of course the Minister himself had helped, when he had declared a state of emergency that morning.

Sitting there, she made sure that she effused an air of collected calm. Several members of the Wizengamot came up to her to share their concerns, and she did her best to answer them all decisively. It helped that she had had been able to think on the matter longer than they had.

Eventually, the Minister bustled in, surrounded by undersecretaries and aids. He looked decidedly flustered and unkempt, and if she hadn't been monitoring her outward appearance, her disapproving frown would surely have been noticed.

The Minister stood at the podium to address the assembled witches and wizards. He was interrupted by Thaddeus Midgen though who spoke over the crowd. "Is it true Minister? What did the Prime Minister have to say to you?"

"I saw no point in speaking to a man who has so obviously been befuddled, I've sent aurors to investigate."

Amelia pursed her lips. He had not seen fit to go through her to assign such a task.

The minister continued, "And of course it isn't true, none of it is. The very idea! Don't be a fool. This whole hoax has gone too far, and if we don't act, the muggles will suspect magic sooner or later."

"Then how do you explain this, then?" asked Bartholomew Maximus. "I could have believed that a small group of criminals could have pulled off the spaceship hoax. But to believe that they could have gotten through our protections on the Prime Minister, on the leaders of eight of the most powerful countries in the world, and then pull off the same hoax while the entire world watched? No we must prepare ourselves to face the facts at hand."

"The facts at hand?" asked Dolores Umbridge with a faux bemused look on her face. "Why surely you aren't suggesting that muggles have been visiting other planets. The power for such a thing does not exist. It isn't possible. Surely no one here actually believes that little green men have been going about the galaxy in flying saucers," she said with a laugh.

"Then how do you explain it then?" asked Maximus.

"It can't be real," shouted a speaker behind her, whose voice she didn't recognize.

There were calls throughout the chamber as witches and wizards argued back and forth, the Minister and his aids among them.

She sat steadily amongst the cacophony around her, not engaging in the fracas. Eventually the booming voice of Albus Dumbledore, the Chief Warlock, echoed throughout the hall, calling for silence.

"Perhaps," he said. "It is time to hear a report on this matter from the Head of Magical Law Enforcement."

"Yes," said the Minister. "Let us hear how this hoax could have been perpetrated."

"How it could have been done," she said, rising from her seat. "I'm afraid that that would just be conjecture. I can tell you it would have been extremely difficult without the eyes of the world watching," she said with a nod to Maximus. "But it would have been nigh on impossible to perpetrate such a thing with a team of Unspeakables there observing. With magical minds from around the world observing. Those ships flew around the world. A team of Unspeakables visited the site in New York. No one has been able to discern any form of illusion. I can tell you as well that our protections around the Prime Minister have not been breeched, my counterparts in America, France, and China report the same. That announcement was not magically influenced." Of course, she had no open communication with her Russian counterpart, but from what she knew, it would be suicide to try to influence the Russian head of state with magic.

"We have a matter of importance right now, that won't be solved by trying to deny what is in front of us; we must first work to prevent a panic. I have deployed all available Aurors to patrol all public areas, it is most important right now, to assure the people that they are safe. But we must still decide how we will handle this matter in the long run."

There was a chilled silence for a moment and many who had previously been arguing against the possibility of life on other planets shared uncomfortable glances.

"Madame Bones," interjected the Minister into the silence. "Surely you have sense enough not to believe this rubbish."

"Minister Fudge," she said severely. "I can assure you that I have sense enough not to disbelieve something just because I would rather it be not true."

"But isn't it obvious?" exclaimed the minister. "This is another distraction of Black's and his followers. Trying to get us to look one way while he moves another, who knows what Magics he is capable of."

And there it was. There was a very short moment of silence in the chamber after this declaration, during which time Elanore Darvey glanced at her. She inclined her head almost imperceptibly. Elanore rose.

"Has Black been seen lurking around Downing street, or is this more baseless conjecture? I had wondered when we might hear more about him from you."

The Minister sputtered. "Now see here..."

"Well of course, he ignored the evidence that Black could be innocent, why not ignore anything else he doesn't want to believe," called out Elija Aarow.

"Perhaps the minister has been reading too much of the quibler, to think a fugitive orchestrated this whole debacle," derided Jane Hunter.

"Have you all gone mad, of course it was Black, who else could have pulled it off," shouted Agnes Bulstrode.

Though she was ignored by most, Alan Mendel called back, "Pull your head out of the sand."

Alana Trebeck picked up the call, "The Minister needs to pull his head out of the sand."

The Minister, whose face had been turning a deep shade of purple finished his sputtering, and seeming to address all those who had been speaking against him, he slammed his fist down on his podium and said, "How dare you, I'll have your seat. Imagine grown witches and wizards of your statuse believing in ridiculous muggle stories, I won't have it."

Elanore Darvey rose once more, "I call for an immediate Vote of No Confidence against Minister for Magic Cornelius Oswald Fudge, on the grounds that he has shown himself incapable of leading us during this state of emergency."

"I second that," said Elijah Aarow, rising to his feet.

"Third," said Jane Hunter.

"Albus," called out the Minister, addressing the Chief Warlock. "You must bring this session back into order."

The aged Headmaster nodded his head to Minister Fudge, and rose to the silence of the hall. "An immediate Vote of No Confidence having been called, and a quorum being present, I invoke the laws governing a state of emergency and ask that all in favor of the immediate removal of the current Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, on grounds of unsuitability, rise and stand to be counted.

"Albus," the Minister squawked.

There was a small flurry as Ministerial aids and undersecretaries flocked to members of the Wizengammot not firmly in the Ministers camp, trying to convince them to remain seated.

Yet as she rose, Amelia could see many around her doing the same. This was the moment of truth, if it did not work now, they would be unlikely to find success in the future. She watched as others slowly rose around her.

"Sit down," cried the Minister, as some of his own political allies decided to cut ties. A few more rose after his outburst. And as the minister realized the way the tide had turned his voice strangled off as he stood in shock.

"The motion has passed with thirty seven votes in favor. Cornelius, your presence is no longer required for these proceedings. Is there a motion for the selection of an interim?"

Fudge stood where he was, still staring about the room.

"Maddison, if you would," asked the the Headmaster to one of the Aurors standing watch at the door.

A very uncomfortable looking Emmett Maddison came forward to escort Fudge out of the hall.

"But Albus," asked Peter MacMillan. "As Chief Warlock, the position is yours in the interim."

"And were we truly in a state of emergency, I would fill that position, until another could be chosen. Yet there is no emergency, the public must be assured of their safety. We need a strong minister right now, who can lead us through changing times, but that need not be myself. With the troubles surrounding the Tri-Wizard Tournament, my place is clearly at Hogwarts."

There was a silence as the various factions of the Wizengammot sized each other up. The battle had only just begun.

IIIIIII

"There vast a boy, he graduated some years ago, but he vould tell anyvone who vould listen that his faather had been taken by beings from another vorld," Victor was saying as Harry entered the unused classroom filled only with the other three champions.

Harry smiled, but didn't say anything as he sat down across from the burley boy. It wasn't as though he was fond of the woman, but he owed Rita Skeeter the exclusive in that matter. Besides which, it was only a matter of time before his name came up out of the thousands of partially redacted files being made available to the public, if it had not already, as the owner of the Libertas.

"Do you think he was telling the truth now?" he asked.

Victor thought for a moment. "Just because aliens exist, it does not mean that crazy people don't."

"Speaking of abductions, a couple of Auror's dropped by to ask about Arnold Attkinson," Cedric said.

Harry nodded, "They came to Gryffindor tower asking about Marie Ellis. No one's seen any evidence of foul play, but Ellis's roommates think she would have told them if she was eloping. What about you, Attkinson was a roommate of yours wasn't he?"

"He was, I have to say, if one of them came up with the idea to elope, it probably wasn't his. It was always Marie who got him sneaking out in the middle of the night to hook up. The night they disappeared, he'd just said that Marie wanted to meet somewhere crazy. He certainly didn't say anything about marrying her though."

"Perrhaps she 'as found 'erself in ze family way."

Cedric turned red, "I'm pretty sure, actually, that Arnold knew how to avoid that."

Fleur made a dismissive gesture, perhaps having no faith in teenaged birth control.

"Who found the notes?" Victor asked.

"Jason did, it was on Arnold's nightstand when we woke up," Cedric said.

"Marie's note was left in the common room. One of the first years found it," Harry supplied.

"Did you read the note," Victor asked Cedric. "Did it sound like he wrote it?"

"I did, but it was too short to tell, it basically just said, 'Marie and I are eloping.'"

"From what I heard Marie's said little more," Harry said. "I understand Marie is a muggleborn, do you know if Arnold..."

"He's a pureblood, but the family isn't the sort to object to that sort of marriage. I really can't think of any reason they'd elope in the middle of the school year. Arnold wants to go into charm work and he's going to need his NEWTs."

"The thing that bothers me the most about this is that they didn't just disappear from their beds, we know that they were meeting up out after curfew."

"You theenk zey saw something zey should not 'ave?" Fleur asked.

Harry shrugged, "It's that or they really did just elope for no reason with no explanation to any of their friends."

"There's also where the notes were found," Cedric said.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"It doesn't make sense to leave Marie's note in the common room, it could have easily been lost in the clutter. It only makes sense if the person who left it couldn't get up to the girl's dorm. Which would mean it was left by a guy. If we assume that, then we have to assume that the same person left the notes in both houses; for which they would have needed the passwords to both houses. Unless it was premeditated, and nothing else suggest that it was, then that means that whoever did it, already had the passwords to both houses."

"Vone of the faculty," Victor said.

There was a pause as they all took that in.

"I don't want us to assume that only the faculty could have access to the houses, there could be other ways in. What if someone had a house elf leave the notes?"

"Again, they would have left it on Marie's night stand, not where it could have been lost."

"I think less and less zat zey 'ave eloped."

"If they haven't, then they are likely dead," said Victor, and the room was silent for a moment. Cedric was particularly stony, and Harry wondered how close the two had become, sharing a dorm for more than six years.

"Most of the school is convinced that they eloped, they think the Aurors are just making a perfunctory investigation, there may be things they haven't told the Aurors that they might tell one of us."

"Well I should be able to talk to all of Arnold's friends, but I doubt Marie's friends are likely to tell me anything they didn't tell the Aurors."

"Zey might not tell you if you ask outright, but girls love to gossip."

Harry looked at her; considering, "Do you think you can pull off 'the hopeless romantic,' get the girls talking?"

"Zertainly," Fleur said.

"OK, now the last thing I want to do is offend anyone, but Fleur, you're beyond beautiful," Cedric said.

Victor guffawed before resuming his surely demeanor, startled by the other boys words.

"What I mean is, well, it's been my experience that some girls can get a bit jealous. They're not just going to gossip all that easily with Fleur."

Fleur conceded the point, "I 'ave 'ad some trouble wiz ze ozer girls 'ere."

"Then it's a matter of timing," Harry said. "It's hard to be jealous when they've got a date on their arm. The Yule Ball is only a few days away, you can make enquiries then."

Victor nodded, "Until then, ve should all be looking for somevone who has seen anything that night, if anyone else vast seen out that night."

Harry nodded, while he rather hoped that the two students were alright, their disappearance provided them the best avenue for their search, and if they had been killed for seeing too much, then figuring out what that might have been would bring them that much closer to uncovering whoever was behind everything.

"Alright, what's next on the agenda."

IIIIII

"Hey kiddo," Sirius greeted when Harry beamed himself up to his ship. "Ask anyone out yet?"

Harry scowled, "That's hardly the biggest thing that's happening right now."

"Well?"

Harry sighed and held up his thumb and forefinger, "I came this close, but was foiled by her sister's arrival."

Sirius grinned, "Well that's not too discouraging. You can always try again."

"Anyway, there's quite a commotion in the Wizarding world right now, muggle world too, but the Ministry of Magic has a new Minister."

"They got rid of the guy who thought I was trying to assassinate him?"

"They did, that woman I met with, Madame Bones has been voted in during the interim. She's seen fit to rescind your death warrant, though you're still wanted as a fugitive for questioning, so I wouldn't leave the ship for a stroll through Hogsmead anytime soon."

Sirius shrugged, "I was never in that much danger to begin with."

"It's the principal of the thing," Harry said.

"What about the Goblet."

"That's my second bit of news. The Department of Games and Sports sent me a letter detailing the charms they know of on the Goblet. They say if I can send them a plan to safely remove myself from the tournament, and I can convince them I can pull it off, they'll make the cup available to me. It would be easier if I could examine the real thing, but I should be able to satisfy them."

"So you might be back to saving the galaxy some time soon then?"

Harry shrugged, "I won't put too much faith into this bureaucracy they've got going here moving too quickly."

They moved into the lab where Nol was updating data from his most recent experiment.

"Good news," Harry said by way of greeting. "I might be able to convince the new administration to hand over the Goblet of Fire."

"Oh," said Nol. "I really do feel that my most recent avenue of search is most promising."

"I'm sure you would have gotten it soon enough. Actually I wanted to pick your brain about some of the research on Merlin's notes."

"You know I can not teach you in such matters."

"I know, but you can tell me if I am on the right track," Harry said. "I've learned more about Voldemort, and I think there might be better avenues to explore in the matters of the soul."

"What have you learned."

"The monster split off pieces of his soul and attached them to physical objects in order to anchor himself to the physical world. That's why he continued on when his body was destroyed. That's why I've got a bit of him stuck on me."

Nol looked thoughtful, but Sirius looked disturbed.

"There is no other dark magic I can think of that is that disturbing, or destructive. He must have already been evil to have attempted such a thing, but the process would have had a damaging affect on his soul, and twisted the mind."

"That's what Professor Dumbledore said. That for all that it's kept him from passing on, the soul it's self has been destabilized by the process."

"You plan to further destabilize the soul?"

"Yes, there's enough in Merlin's notes that I'm confident it can be done, but what I want to know, is can I use the link I have with him to send an energy matrix to him."

Nol thought for a moment, and Harry wondered if he was thinking about the science or about how much he could tell Harry.

"I too have glanced at the notes, I spent some time modifying some equipment." He activated some controls and a display popped up. "This Harry, is a representation of my soul." There was a three dimensional model that showed a flurry of complex particles, all somehow interconnected, while at the same time in constant, random seeming motion. It looked a bit like an angry beehive. Below the construct was a series of equations, using maths and symbols the Tollans had yet to teach him.

He adjusted the controls. "This is your own." A similar image appeared, though this one had what appeared to be a tumor growing on the side of it. Tendrils connected the two masses, and one shot off to what Harry assumed was Voldemort.

"I could attempt to attach a matrix to the connection you see here, I could even have it draw itself along until it met one end, but I could not control which direction it will go. It could as easily attack you as it could the man who did this to you."

"But my soul is not unstable, it would survive."

Nol shook his head and thought, and this time he knew the man looked constrained by what he could not say.

"Suffice it to say Harry, that damage you can not yet understand would be done. It would not simply be an issue of surviving. The effect would be unpredictable."

"Could you follow the connection? We could end this now if we could just find the bastard," Sirius asked.

It was Harry's turn to shake his head. "This is only a three dimensional representation of the link, the link itself does not exist in three dimensional space."

"Well can you just destroy the Horcrux attached to you."

Harry looked to Nol.

"Again, not without damaging your own soul, there is no way I can see to completely isolate one and not the other."

Harry nodded, "I guess I'll just have to wait and see if I get to meet the man before I get out of here. I'll make sure I'm ready when I do."

IIIIII

Harry continued to work on his projects. He had sent a letter to the Department of Games and Sports, explaining how he would trick the Goblet into thinking that the tournament was over. His understanding of Merlin's notes was growing, and Harry felt more and more confident in the knowledge. He even found time to ask Padma Patil to the Yule Ball, he was only slightly surprised when she said yes. From time to time one of the professors managed to drag him away to work on the dueling project, and Harry thought that soon he would unveil it to the rest of the school.

It was the day before the Yule Ball, and while he was really starting to get in the spirit of things, he had one bit of unpleasant business to attend to.

"Why Harry, darling, it is, as always, a pleasure to see you."

"Good evening Rita."

"You know, I'd almost forgotten all about you in the recent hubbub, are you eager to be back in the headlines Harry."

"Not really, no, but it is all a matter of time isn't it. I have quite the story for you though. I just want to ask you a couple of questions before we get started."

Rita grinned her saccharine smile, "Of course Harry, though I don't usually give interviews myself."

"How long have you been spying on me."

The only reaction she gave was the pause before she next spoke.

"From the beginning of course. But I wouldn't call it spying Harry dear. I've been investigating you as a journalist, and the story will be quite big. The Tri-Wizard Conspiracy, the four champions working together. Released right before the Final Task."

"You won't be publishing that story," Harry said. "Not if you want to publish a bigger one. Of course, the biggest story of your career can always go to another paper. Wizarding World News perhaps? I guarantee you; overshadowed by this story, any spin you can put on my meetings with the other champions will be insignificant."

"Very well then Harry, I'll take your offer."

"An oath on your magic, that you won't tell anyone about what you've seen or heard while spying on me."

Rita paused, a calculating look in her eyes. She drew her wand. "By my magic I do avow that I will either disclose what I have learned from spying on Harry Potter or what he is about to tell me, not both."

Harry raised his brow at the wording.

"Just a safety net dear, I've got to protect myself don't I."

Harry started talking.

IIIIIII

Barty Crouch Jr. Went through the steps of the runabout with precision, but his mind wasn't on the quick dance, or the woman he was twirling about. The chaos that the damn muggles had spread had seeped into the wizarding world. Fudge had been playing perfectly into his plans, but now the blood traitor Bones sat in his chair, and already, he could feel the boy start to slip through his fingers. He probably wouldn't last until the Final Task, maybe not even until the second.

There he was, he spotted the boy across the dance floor. The boy had had a spring in his step since the day Fudge had been ousted, though he almost looked like he wished he could hide at that moment. The eyes of most of the school were upon him, had been since a bizarre news article had come out that morning.

The article was another reason for him to be agitated. Though it was clearly more muggle rubbish, it was clear that the boy was somehow connected to the muggles, but why. The Dark Lord's return could not come soon enough, not with the world in the state it was. They were lost without his direction. But how much time did they have?

IIIIIII

"Ah but eet ees so romantic, non. To geev een to love and passion and elope. I should bee so lucky some day." Fleur was talking to the Third Gryffindor girl she had come across that evening, and though the second girl, one of Ellis's room mates, had wanted to talk no end on how romantic it was, this one seemed less inclined to talk about it, while the boy on her arm would not stop staring at Fleur. It was not as though Fleur was unused to such things, but at the moment it was quite the hindrance when she was trying to get along with other girls.

"So, deed you know she was leaving that night?" Fleur asked.

IIIIII

Cedric was twirling Cho around the dance floor. She twirled almost as gracefully as she did doing the barrel roll on a broomstick. She was smiling beautifully as the song wound down. He saw Victor by the punch bowl. He hadn't seen him since they had met several days prior.

"I'll get you some punch," he told Cho, who looked flushed with exertion.

He walked over to Victor, and started filling up two glasses.

"Found anything?" he asked.

"I do not know. Andrei vast out valking the grounds that night. He did not see the two students, but he did see Professor Moody running towards the castle from the gate that night."

Cedric shook his head, Mad-Eye Moody was about as clean as they came. He looked over at the professor. Fleur came over, with Roger Davis on her arm.

"Roger," she purred at the boy, "Would you please get me my shall from my seat, eet 'as gotten chilly, non?"

"Of course," he said. "I'll be right back."

"I take it you've found something."

"Perhaps. Marie's room mates all say zat she did not act any differently before she disappeared than she ever did, zey repeat zat she told them only that she was going to meet with Arnold zat night. But there was something more. One of her room mates said that before she left zat night she saw Professor Moody walking across the grounds towards the front gate. She said zat Marie seemed excited by zis."

Krum gave Cedric a look, "You did say that Arnold said that she vanted to meet somevhere crazy. Vat is more crazy than meeting by a professors quarters while he is out." He turned towards Fleur.

"Vone of my classmates saw Moody running towards the castle last night in a hurry."

Cedric looked at Professor Moody again, he had met the man once before Hogwarts when he was a kid, his father had taken him to work with him at the Ministry. He remembered being in awe of the legendary Auror.

"What if zey were by ze Professor's rooms, and zey saw something zey should not have?"

"Look, I don't think you get how crazy that sounds. Alastor Moody was one of the biggest thorns in You-Know-Who's backside. He couldn't be working for him now."

"Vat if he is an impostor?"

"Zey checked, everyone was checked."

Cedric was about to agree with her, to say that of course he couldn't be an impostor, he had been checked, along with everyone else, and no one could ever get the drop on Moody. But then a memory from right before term surfaced.

"Right before term, there was a commotion at his house, but then he said it was a misunderstanding or something. What if someone attacked him then and took his place."

"Again, 'ee was checked. Ze same as everyone else."

"He vast the vone who escorted the Aurors from the gate."

"He could have confunded them, made them think they'd already checked him."

If there was an imposter, then the only person who could have had a chance of evading detection was the man who had met the Aurors alone before they checked the school. Between that, and the evidence suggesting that the two students had been meeting by the Professor's quarters when the man had rushed back to the castle, Cedric started to believe. Moody had free run of the school, and could have easily had access to the goblet, the potions supplies, and the stadium. And hadn't Harry said that it was Moody himself who had been investigating who could have put Harry into the championship.

Once more Cedric's eyes found the Professor, and in that moment he knew that he was the one. It was then that the hope that Arnold and Marie were alive vanished. Two more victims of the man who served the darkest wizard of the age. He had lived with Arnold for over six years, and the boy was dead at the hands of one of the men charged with his safety. He turned his gaze from the impostor.

"We've been standing together for too long, I'll go tell Harry what we've figured out."

IIIIIII

Of a sudden, one of the rings on his gnarled fingers started to burn. Always warm since he had put it on, the ring told him when someone around him considered him an enemy. Snape's and Karkarof's animosity, and the general ill will of students who did not do well in his class, or whose parents rotted in Azkaban because Alastor Moody had caught them kept the ring in constant activity. But now it burned, someone here had come to see him as an enemy to be fought. His magical eye spun around in it's socket, searching for a clue.

There it was, but it wasn't what he expected. The three true champions stood together. All three were looking at his back. Diggory sported a look of shock and anger, while the other two looked suspicious. Diggory's eyes broke off back to the other two champions. Then they were searching the crowd until they stopped on the boy who most of the hall seemed to glance at every few moments. Diggory started walking towards Potter.

He had run out of time, he did not know where his mistake lay, but he had failed his master. The only thing to do was to salvage what he could, rely on the backup he had sworn would not be needed. He broke off from his dance partner without a word. He was closer to the Potter boy than Diggory. He started hobbling as fast as he could. From his robes he pulled out a potion he had been carrying since the Dark Lord had come to Hogwarts. He downed it as quickly as he could without choking on the foul substance.

IIIIIIII

When he had met Padma Patil at Ravenclaw tower he had told her that he would appreciate it if she would hold off questions pertaining to the Skeeter article till after the ball. This was his first real date, and he wanted it to be somewhat normal. He almost regretted it now, as he led Padma through the steps of a dance that had originated over a thousand light years away. She had an inquiring mind, and the inability to ask questions right from the source of her curiosity was clearly distracting her.

Rita had taken a few days to publish, she had needed time to go through all of the released files that pertained to Harry. Harry could have wished that she had taken a day more. As it was, harry had been stopped many times that day by students who wanted to ask if the article was true or not.

Still, the evening was far from ruined. Padma had a keen mind, and she was fun to talk to. It was almost a shame that he wouldn't likely be staying long enough to pursue the relationship.

Padma paused in the dance, and Harry turned to see what she was looking at. He saw professor Moody hobbling towards him, quickly. Had something happened to put such a look of worry on the man? He took a step forward when he heard his name called out.

"Harry, wait."

He turned to see Cedric running towards him.

"Potter, there's no time," Professor Moody said as he drew near. He was only a step away when his wooden leg slipped out from under him. Harry was at his side in a heartbeat, steadying him with a hand under his elbow. Professor Moody's other arm came up to grab Harry's shoulder.

"What's wrong Professor?"

"Harry, get away from him."

Harry looked at Cedric, he turned back to the Professor, starting to tense.

"Red Tail," said the professor, who's grip on his shoulder tightened.

Harry felt a lurch from behind his naval.

This time his trip with a Portkey was much faster, and the landing much less violent. At first he thought that he had landed in a small pond. A wave of energy from his hand sent the Professor flying from him, quickly followed by red stunners that had no problem finding their mark. It was as he paused to take in his surroundings that he realized that he wasn't standing in a small pond, but in a small trough, filled with what could only be a potion of some sort. A wave of his hand vanished the sludge and cleaned him up, but as he stepped out of the trough he started to feel it. A weakness in his limbs, a slowness in his thoughts. He tried to focus inward, to shoot himself as far away as he could with the limited line of sight that he had, but the process was complex and seemed impossible in his current state. He took a wobbling step forward and fell on his face, his arms hadn't wanted to come up to protect him.

Something walked past him. "Enervate."

A sluggish mental command summoned his ship, and as darkness clouded his vision he gave one more command to his body as he lost consciousness.

A/N Wow, I hope I can put in another chapter before I leave. I wouldn't want you to have to deal with a cliffy like this for so long.

Please Review


	13. 12 Soul

A/N: Thank you to everyone who wished me luck with boot camp. It turned out that that luck took an unexpected turn. I had trouble with my paperwork, so I won't be going till September, which means, bootcamp in the fall instead of the summer. It took work a while to get me back on the schedule, so I've been doing a bit of traveling in the interim time. I had a lot of trouble with this chapter. A lot of things had to be rewritten, and a few scenes just took a while to hammer out. In the end, I like to think that everything fell into place, so I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't know if you've read this series of books called Harry Potter, but if you have, you may notice that one or two, (or most), of these characters and their surroundings are not of my creation. Surprising, I know. I in fact do not own anything here, JK Rowling and MGM do.

Soul

Dumbledore had always been a bit of a legend to him when he was a boy; the man who had defeated Grindelwald, who had stood against You-Know-Who. He had half expected to come to Hogwarts on his first day and find that the Headmaster of his school looked more like one of the battle mages from his story books than anything else. He had imagined that such a wizard must give off a palpable aura of power that all around him must feel. So when he had arrived in the Great hall for his sorting as an eleven year old boy, he had done a double take when he had seen the aged man sitting in the middle of the head table. Albus Dumbledore had always come off more as a benevolent grandfather, an eccentric older man who had taught Professor McGonagall's second year class how to turn their hair fanciful colors one day when the Transfiguration Professor had come down with the flu.

Yet now that it had all gone wrong, he could see what he had imagined as a boy. He saw a warlock full of power and authority. The air around him felt charged, and a primal part of his brain told him that he should be moving in the opposite direction as he approached the most powerful wizard in the world.

"Filius, consult the loadstone, a Portkey within the grounds will have made an impression. Pomona, alert the ministry, we're going to need a lot of people to help in the search. Minerva, round up the old crowd. Hagrid, we're going to need your help orchestrating a search of the forest. There is a lot of ground to cover, but we know he is still within the bounds of the tournament."

The headmaster turned around to face him at his approach, "Mr. Diggory, you tried to warn Mr. Potter of Professor Moody, why?"

Cedric found himself stumbling through an explanation of what they had discovered, and their belief that Professor Moody was an impostor.

"Sir, I'm sorry, I don't know how, but he knew we were on to him, that's why he grabbed Harry like that."

"Blame for this night does not lie with you my boy. You did well to bring this to me. Now go join the rest of your house in the Hufflepuff dormitory."

It felt very wrong to argue with the powerful wizard in front of him.

"I'm of age sir, I'd like to help the search."

"Me as well," said Fleur, who Cedric hadn't realized had come up behind him.

"Ve can all help," said Victor, standing next to Fleur.

"Very well, Mr. Diggory, Mr. Krum, Madame Hooch is preparing to orchestrate an aerial search of the area. Mademoiselle Delacour you may join one of the teams that searches the forbidden forest."

With that the Headmaster turned back to those professors who had yet to receive instructions and continued orchestrating the search for Harry Potter.

Cedric and Victor sought out Madame Hooch to let her know that they would be joining her, before going to get their brooms. Cedric just hoped that they wouldn't be too late.

IIIIIII

If he hadn't told his metabolism to go into overdrive before he had passed out, the potion in his system would have likely left him unconscious when the knife slashed across his face. As it was, his system was taxing itself to filter and process the potion that had knocked him out, and as he felt the sharp pain he drowsily opened his eyes to see only with one of them. His right eye had been slashed through. He tried to move but found it difficult in his current state, besides which, he was clearly tied to a stone pedestal.

Someone's forearm pushed his head against the stone as something was pressed against his face below the gash. In the dark he could see a figure walk away from him towards a cauldron in the middle of the forest floor. Next to the cauldron there was what looked like an unburied casket. Looking around, he was bewildered to see that, seemingly risen from the earth itself, a curved rock face, fifteen meters across, cut off his vision of everything above him, to his sides, and behind him. It looked like someone had half buried a bowl sideways in the ground, and Harry was inside.

"Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, you shall resurrect your foe," he heard Crouch say.

The giant cauldron started roiling and smoking, and the very air felt charged. There was a sharp crack and everything went silent. A moment passed until a figure rose from within.

"Robe me," said the high cold voice of who Harry had little doubt was Voldemort.

Moody, or perhaps more likely Crouch handed Voldemort a dark robe. Harry thought it looked like Crouch was missing his wand hand. Harry tried to focus inward, to shoot himself away, but he had too much difficulty focusing on his magic, it was almost like it kept slipping away from him.

"Harry Potter," said Voldemort. "I have waited for so long to see you again, and gone through such trouble to do so."

Harry was still having trouble processing what was happening in front of him, his eyes still wanted to close, and his head still wanted to fall forward onto his chest.

"Do not worry that we will be interrupted, I have arranged that we shall be quite alone until I summon the rest of this reunion. Though I had not expected you to waken so soon, I will have to move things along accordingly."

Harry sought out his ship, but while he could sense its presence, he could not summon it. He knew he was in no shape to fight. He now knew why he had been taken; for some reason his blood had been needed to restore Voldemort, but it left a lot unanswered. He lifted his head as well as he could, though it felt like it was made of lead.

"Why did you wait?" Harry asked. "Why make the dragon attack the crowd?"

He needed time to process the potion.

"Do you know why people fear to speak my name Harry?"

He knew the answer, he had learned as much about Voldemort as he could, but it took him a moment to bring it to the forefront of his mind.

"Because you killed people for saying it in public."

"Yes, it was important that people fear me, important that they feared to so much as speak my name. And still today an entire generation was raised to fear me; I had been defeated, I was nothing, and they still feared me so. I had become legend, and I truly understand the importance of legend. It was the legend of my ancestor Salazar Slytherin that drew me an army when I had yet to reveal myself to the world. But it was legend that gave people hope, hope that I could be defeated by an old man who had defeated another legend. Yet it was not he who defeated me, but a babe in his cradle."

"When Bartemius found me, I was as weak as such an infant, but with resurrection within my grasp, I knew that you must once more be a part of my legend. I had to come back stronger, I had to come back upon the chariot of your defeat, lest those who might oppose me have such hope as they had when they heard that you had destroyed me. They had to know that it was your blood that flows in my veins, and now," he held up his hand and energy crackled between his fingers, "I feel a power in this blood I have never felt before."

Though it was beating furiously to pump the potion through his system as fast as it could, Harry felt in that moment that his heart stopped. Voldemort had naquedah in his blood. He took a shuddering breath of relief as he realized, though, that without so much as a basic understanding of physics, Voldemort could never use such power to its potential.

"But I did not know when I had you brought back that you would be so powerful, I wanted very much for you to be perceived so, that people could say that you were extraordinary, that no mere infant could defeat me. I had to kill a legend. A legend you had prolonged with your disappearance. My servant had been prepared to ensure that you won the Tri-Wizard tournament. A fourteen year old boy defeating the three Tri-Wizard champions, the best and brightest of a generation. But then you arrived, and it became clear very quickly that you were very extraordinary. I decided to see how far you could build up your own legend. My servant tested you in a duel in class, and he felt your power, everyone there who was in tune to such things felt your power. When you faced that dragon, I decided, it would not be enough to simply get by it. I wanted the world to see what you could truly do."

"And you performed for me, with the dragon let loose, and trying to incinerate the crowd, you fought it's magic to contain it, and when my servant broke it free, you flew, Harry Potter, you flew up into the sky like it was your domain, and a bar of pure light pierced it's armored skull. You killed a dragon with one blow, and your legend grew.

"So now your legend comes to an end, sooner perhaps than I had hoped, and mine starts anew."

Crouch, who had been standing behind Voldemort, clutching his wrist with his remaining hand, while staring at his master in awe, suddenly started to ripple and change. Alastor Moody's magical eye and wooden leg popped out of their sockets, and the form of Bartemius Crouch Jr. stood in his place.

"It is time," Voldemort said. "Prepare him."

Crouch grabbed his hair and wrenched his head back, then held it in place with his stump of an arm. He then pulled a potion out of his robes that he forced down Harry's throat.

IIIIIIII

He had never really believed Harry when he had told him that the place he met Sirius in was a cavern that he had constructed underground. Though he had little doubt after the short amount of time he had known Harry that the youth could build such a thing, he had long since come to believe that Harry truly had left the planet, that other worlds and aliens really did exist. The interview he had given to the prophet only confirmed his suspicion. Though it had largely confirmed the suspicions he had had for a while, the article that had been printed in the paper had still thrown him for a loop. Harry had been abducted by parasitic aliens, had fought in interstellar battles. One quote from the article had stuck with him though, "It was magic that set me free from them, but it was with my bare hands that I slew them. It empowered me, in a way, and I knew that I would continue to go after the goa'uld. The day that I slew Osiris was the day I began a war, which I saw through to the end." It would have been easy to imagine the Harry that he knew now setting off to war, but the fourteen year old's words had described events from when he was just nine. The article had truly been heart wrenching to read, but also very illuminating.

As it was, Remus was convinced that at that moment he was right next to a spaceship. Or at least he hoped that he was. He had come when Dumbledore had called, and right then he was hoping that Sirius or his strange friend could help him find Harry.

"Harry needs help," he called out, hoping someone could hear him.

A bright light shone on him from above and he startled as several large rings fell down out of nothingness from the sky above him. When the light dimmed again, he was on Harry's ship. Sirius walked into the room.

"This way," he said.

Remus followed him out of the room he had appeared in as he walked into another where Nol was doing something at what Remus supposed was a computer.

"The scanners can't find Harry," Sirius said. "What happened?"

"He was portkeyed away, we don't know where to."

"He should still show up on the scanner; with his kara kesh the scanners should be able to find him, even lightyears away."

"He has to be somewhere within the wards," Sirius said.

"He may be blocked by wards, any number could keep a location secret," Remus suggested.

"To you perhaps," said Nol. "But we have penetrated all we have encountered. Here," he said, as he input something into his computer. "These are the wards that this ship's sensors have bypassed, based on information from the Hogwarts Library."

A list of wards came up seeming to be written in the air in front of Remus. He had to admit he was impressed, though he had no idea how they had had the opportunity to come across so many.

"These are all of the wards that were contained in the library that could conceal someone from detection. Eliminating those we have already come across, and those that operate on similar principals, we are left with these."

There was one on the list that stood out.

"The Fideleus charm," he said. "He wouldn't be hidden from the ship, well not directly. The ship could very well be picking him up, you just can't tell; that is the nature of the charm. When Harry's parents took him into hiding, I knew where they where before the Fideleus charm was cast, but once it was, I could not perceive that knowledge until I was shown the the note that Peter had written."

"But why hasn't Harry summoned his ship to him. Would this charm block him? Or can we assume that he isn't in a state to do so?"

"It could be either," said Remus. "The charm prevents anyone other than the secret keeper from communicating with the outside world while within the bounds of the charm."

Nol nodded. "Then we must assume that the ship can sense Harry's presence but that we can not perceive this information. We must then instruct the ship to go to Harry's location. Will Harry be able to communicate with the ship once the ship is within the bounds of the charm?"

"If he is conscious, yes, but if he is not, then we will have no way of knowing, we will not even be able to remember why we are there. We can assume that Harry was taken there by the secret keeper himself. Therefor he will be protected by the charm as well, we will not be able to perceive him, even if we were standing right in front of him. We will not even be able to conceive of the notion that we are in the same area as he. We can direct the ship to go to Harry, but once we are there, we will not be able to think of it as Harry's location."

"So what if he isn't conscious when we get there?" Sirius asked.

"If he is unconscious, there may be nothing we can do," said Remus.

"It may be advantageous to Harry for us to create a distraction. If we can't directly aid him, then we can at least use the ship to create a pretty big distraction."

"If we're going to forget that he is there, then we'll have to tell the ship what to do when we get there ahead of time."

"It would likely be best to temporarily lock ourselves out of the controls once we have done so. Lest we decide to leave once we get there."

"Right," Sirius said. "You tell the ship to get us there, I'll tell it what it should do to create a distraction when we do."

"I don't really know what this ship can do," Remus said. " But can it break the Fideleus charm once we are inside the wards? Then we could directly help Harry, or call in for backup."

"It is likely that if I were able to study them, I would be able to break through them. But without being able to directly analyze them, I can at best give instructions to the ship's computer to analyze them and then use it's own limited cognitive power to determine a course of attack."

"Then I should go," said Remus. "I'll tell Dumbledore to assemble a strike team. If the wards go down, you'll remember why you're there. Make sure you make your presence known at that point."

They made quick farewells and Sirius helped him off of the ship. Once back outside, Remus made his way quickly to the castle.

IIIIIII

Even had Ginny Weasley been one to follow rules and directions, she would still have found herself flying the grounds of the castle after everyone had been sent to their dorms. There wasn't one particular reason, she had so many, she felt, but one way or another, she knew that it was owed.

IIIIII

Flying high above the grounds, his wand out, and his eyes closed; Severus Snape chanted low, under his breath, as he cast out in the surrounding area for a sign of his quarry. It was likely useless. The man behind this was methodical, there was likely nothing to find. But he had made a vow thirteen years ago, and damned as he was, he had no intention of ignoring it now.

He gasped and almost slid off of his broom as his forearm burned as it had not for over a decade. His stomach turned to ice. The Dark Lord was back.

Suddenly knowing where to go, he cast a sonorous charm on his throat and turned to call out to those searching in the area. Yet as he opened his mouth, no words would come out. He tried again, but it was no use. With a grim frown, he turned towards the pull of the Dark Lord. It seemed he would be going in on his own.

IIIIIIII

The potion Crouch had forced down his throat was some sort of stimulant. It didn't directly counteract the potion that had knocked him out, rather the two potions seemed to be fighting each other. He no longer felt lethargic, and his muscles felt strong. His system, which had been taxed trying to filter out the potion that had disabled him was given new life as it struggled. The potion did nothing, however, for his ability to concentrate. Indeed it almost made it worse, as he now had trouble staying on one line of thought.

It seemed Voldemort wanted to fight him when he looked strong, but didn't want to take any chances. Harry thought he wouldn't have trouble casting simple spells, but anything requiring concentration, or a quick reaction was beyond him at the moment. He could have broken the bonds that restrained him, but he needed to wait as long as he could before this confrontation, time for him to get the potion out of his system.

"You should not have gone through his eye," Voldemort was saying to Crouch.

"Master, forgive me, I was too eager to make him pay, I forgot myself."

"It is no matter." A flick of Voldemort's wand and the blood cleared from his face, next the cut was sealed. The next spell did not seem to do anything, and it took Harry a while to realize that Voldemort had probably cast an illusion over his face to make it look as though he had two functioning eyes.

"Your arm," Voldemort directed Crouch.

Barty held his good arm up, allowing the sleeve of his robe to fall down before he presented it to his master. Voldemort pressed his thumb onto the center of the man's forearm and Barty closed his eyes as a manic grin spread across his face.

Only moments later a single crack rang out into the night, and a black cloaked and masked figure appeared in the clearing. There was another moment as the figure seemed to take in the scene and then it was kneeling on the ground before Voldemort.

It was not long before more cracks filled the night, as identically dressed figures appeared, all kneeling before Voldemort. Twenty five in all.

"This is all we shall see for now. Two more of our number are currently within the wards of Hogwarts, we shall see if they will join us tonight."

"Master," said one of the kneeling men, "I always knew you would return. I never lost faith."

"You dare," spat Crouch. "You speak of faith when you have done nothing these past thirteen year to bring back the master you swore yourself to. You who have sat in the comfort of your manors while your brothers and sisters rotted in Azkaban, and enjoyed the benefits of the society we fought to resurrect, while it crumbles around you." Had his wand arm a hand, it would have been pointing at each of the Death Eaters in turn.

"It was young Barty and the Lestranges who showed me loyalty thirteen years ago, they who kept the faith. And you see, Lord Voldemort pays back what is due." He summoned Crouch to his side and drew forth the man's maimed arm. From his wand spouted liquid metal, which drew itself to the man's wrist where it formed a silver hand.

Barty held up his hand and gazed at his master in jubilee. "It is perfect, Master."

"We have time perhaps for one example."

Barty smiled, and drawing his wand with his new hand, he turned it on one of the kneeling Death Eaters, his face an odd mix of pleasure and rage.

"Crucio!" An agonized scream split the nights air.

"Now," said Voldemort. "It is time to begin the night's festivities." He turned to Crouch. "Three to bear witness."

Crouch nodded and, turning on the spot, he apparated away. It was then that Harry realized that he must be at the edge of the Hogwarts wards, and it was likely that reason why Voldemort had not attempted to come too near Harry. They were on opposite sides of a line that neither of them could cross. Crouch alone could stand on either side. It also explained the bowl of rock behind him, cutting off his line of sight of anything behind him, to his sides, and above him. It probably went right to the end of his tether. He wouldn't be able to beam himself away, even if he could focus on the process enough to succeed.

With another crack, Crouch appeared holding a terrified witch who had been bound with her hands behind her back. He left her and was gone in another crack, returning moments later with a wizard in a similar state. His next disappearance took longer, but he returned with another wizard all the same.

"My lord, may I present Mark Randal, Editor in Chief of the Daily Prophet, Laurence Davies, Mayor of Hogsmead, and Jean Malcom, the London correspondent to Wizarding World News." He turned to the captives. "You will all kneel before the Dark Lord." All three found themselves on their knees before Voldemort.

Voldemort smiled at the assembly. "Now that we are all gathered, it is time to introduce the guest of honor, Harry Potter. And I do mean that. You should all feel honored to have been chosen to witness this meeting of the two most powerful wizards to have walked this earth since the days of the founders. Honored to witness the death of the Boy-Who-Lived on the day of my rebirth. At the end of tonight, you will all go to report what you have seen, that all may know what happened here."

"Someone approaches," Crouch said.

A black robed and masked figure appeared flying in on broomstick, coming from around the side of the bowl of earth that blocked everything on Harry's side of the Hogwarts wards. The newcomer did not spare a glance to anyone else in the assembly, crouching only in front of Voldemort in supplication.

"Master, I must apologize, I came as soon as I could."

It took far too long for Harry to identify the voice, his mind kept slipping, he wondered if he had another ally, or another enemy. It seemed that tonight would see where Severus Snape's loyalties truly lay.

"Look at me," Voldemort told the Hogwarts Potions Master.

Snape looked up into Voldemort's eyes and they began an odd sort of staring contest. After a moment Snape started to tremble, a hand coming up to the side of his head, but he maintained eye contact with the Dark Lord.

Finally Voldemort smiled, and Snape seemed to sag as Voldemort turned back to the other Death Eaters. "You may join your brothers."

Snape stood, all signs of his previous distress gone, and took his place among his fellows. For the first time looking at Harry. Looking him right in the eye, in fact. Harry had a feeling of a presence in his mind, and took a leap of faith. Bringing up to the forefront of his mind the two potions that he had been fed, he hoped that the potions master got his message. If he did, or if he planned to do anything about it though, he didn't give any indication.

"Now," Voldemort was saying. "The time has come; Harry Potter, I challenge you to a duel to the death."

Suddenly, Harry's hand device gave him an alert. The next thing he knew, trees were being battered about every which way, as the Libertas flew into his field of view, flying a circle around everyone, her powerful shields plowing through the forest around them, flying through the trees as though they were made of straw. Bolts of plasma rained down from the sky, each one landing far away from the assembly, sending up massive eruptions of trees and rock and dirt. The running lights flooded the area with a bright white light, and echoing all around them, as though from hundreds of voices, a Jaffa battle chant started pounding in his ears.

The Dark Lord, and all of his Death Eaters tracked the ship as it flew about, their wands drawn, some of them firing spells. All except one, Severus Snape had his wand pointed directly at Harry, and as everyone else watched as the Libertas flew behind them, he fired off a sickly orange spell that struck Harry in the chest. He couldn't hear what spell the man used, but the moment it hit him, he felt as though a fire flowed through his blood. For a moment, he thought that he was dying, that he could look down and see himself being burned alive from the inside out. Yet, a moment later, the fire passed, and his head cleared. He looked up at Snape, but the man was focused on the ship.

Suddenly the Libertas veered upwards, high above the tree tops, and a pulse seemed to go through the air. Harry saw Crouch stumble, looking shaken.

"My Lord, the Fideleus Charm has fallen!"

Harry smiled, Voldemort was now in a trap of Harry's making. A quick command to his ship, and particle emitters started flooding the area with a matrix of energy that would prevent most forms of instantaneous transportation. Harry vanished the magical rope that bound him and gathered his energy, and pushed both hands together, a bolt of liquid light shooting forth at Voldemort, who was distracted by the Libertas. The Dark Lord quickly dove out of the way and a tree in the distance exploded.

"Voldemort," he called out. "I thought we had a duel to see to."

IIIIII

Flying low over the trees, Ginny kept her eyes on the ground looking for any activity. She had made her way fairly far into the forest, farther than she had ever gone before, and any familiarity with what she knew of the forest had long disappeared. She looked over her shoulder, the castle was just a speck of light in the distance.

Suddenly there came flashes of lights, and a booming chant echoed across the landscape. She turned towards the commotion, pushing her broom to it's top speed, moving deeper into the forest. She came upon a clearing in the forest, a handful of wizards in dark robes were firing wildly at a massive contraption that flew through the air from which huge bolts of light flew, striking the earth in massive eruptions. Oddly though, nothing came close to anyone on the ground. Not far away, there was a battle on the ground between two wizards, one of whom looked like he was fighting from underneath a large rock covering. Powerful spells flew in both directions, bursting on shields, deflected to the side, causing massive destruction all around. It didn't take much of a guess to know who was fighting from within the mound, for it was the other figure that drew her focus. It didn't matter that he looked nothing like Tom, she knew who he was the moment she looked at him. As a cold fury gripped her, she pulled out one of the twins inventions from her pocket, she didn't care which, as she angled her broom towards the ground picking up speed. She whispered a word to the packet in her hand.

IIIIIII

Everything Harry had ever read about Voldemort had told him that he was an expert duelist. Brutally powerful, and unforgivingly fast; Voldemort was known to have never lost in a duel during his rise to power. But there was something unnatural to how fast Voldemort was as they dueled. He had looked snakelike after his rebirth, and now his arm moved like a viper, every move precise, as he cast spell after spell in a blinding barrage. Not that Harry wasn't fast as well, and more than powerful enough to hold his own, but every spell and shield had to be quick, or worse, rushed. There was no time to do anything too advanced, nor time to put too much power behind anything. Having only one eye certainly didn't help either. He was considering going on the defensive so he could take command of the Libertas, but the ship was too powerful, it had never been intended to fight a battle between ground troops that were so close together. It's weapons designed to buckle shields would destroy everything that was too close, which the people brought as witnesses by Crouch were.

Voldemort soon started to take advantage of the naquedah in his blood. Firing both with his wand and his free hand. If Voldemort was surprised that Harry wasn't under the effects of the potions, he didn't show it. He just kept up an endless barrage of curses, shields and counter curses. Like Harry, he couldn't take time to do anything complex, forced as he was to react to everything Harry threw at him in rapid succession.

Harry summoned one of the Death Eaters who was directly behind Voldemort, but Voldemort's reflexes were spot on, and he ducked in time, while keeping up a barrage against Harry. The unknown Death Eater continued his path towards Harry, until he impacted the Hogwarts wards and stopped as though he had hit a brick wall. He quickly died in the crossfire between Harry and Voldemort.

Harry quickly deflected a small boulder that Voldemort flung his way, but was unprepared when it exploded as it passed him on his side. He was thrown sideways, one arm bracing for a roll that would see him back on his feet, the other casting a sunburst to hide his exact location from Voldemort, though he was unprotected from the barrage of spells that flew about him. He had regained his feet by the time the sunburst had faded, completely on the defensive as he cast a quick splint on a broken leg. He ignored the other wounds he had sustained. Voldemort started cackling as he kept up a barrage of spells. Suddenly, in a blur, Voldemort was knocked to the side as something very fast barreled into him from the sky. Something redheaded.

Harry watched in disbelief as Ginny Weasley landed atop a prone Voldemort, wand seemingly forgotten as she pummeled him with her fists and her knees, screaming invectives at the monster who's creation had taken so much from her. Nothing he had read suggested that Voldemort had any training in physical fighting, and Voldemort's lack of any sort of skill in dealing with the young girl straddling him showed. Harry wished he could close the gap between the two of them, certain that he could quickly end the encounter.

"This is for Ernie," Ginny cried as Voldemort's wand came to bear on her. At the last word, something underneath Voldemort erupted, and both he and Ginny were flung into the air as fireworks, of all things, flew about them. Harry summoned Ginny to himself, and ducked under her as she sailed over his head to land behind him. He started up another barrage of curses on the Dark Lord, who had quickly regained his bearings.

Ginny was soon at his side, casting curses as quickly as she could at Voldemort. Grateful as he was for the distraction that had allowed him to continue fighting, he then found himself protecting Ginny as well, who had little experience or know how for dealing with the curses that were flying about them.

Harry could see that Voldemort had started favoring his left side after the explosion, and had started taking advantage of the weakness. Not that Harry wasn't still injured, the injuries he had sustained moments before were bleeding freely, and his broken leg made dodging curses difficult. His body still had more power and stamina than any ordinary human, but Voldemort's new body was clearly powerful as well, and if their duel came down to a battle of endurance, Harry wasn't sure who would win. He wished that he had his wand.

IIIIIII

Sirius was fuming as he watched the duel play out below. They were outside the wards of the school, but he couldn't apparate down to the battle, Nol said he couldn't even beam him down. Something Harry had done when the Libertas arrived. He felt rather useless. The Libertas kept circling, kept firing plasma bolts around the clearing, still drew fire from the people below, but Sirius had nothing to do.

"Curious," said Nol.

"What's curious?" asked Sirius as he watched Harry lurch to the side to avoid a curse.

"Several of the combatants below have stopped firing on the ship, but they have not joined Voldemort in his fight, they are just watching."

"They have orders not to interfere," Sirius said suddenly, comprehension dawning. "We aren't providing a distraction at all. Quick land the ship, and open the hatch."

"They may not be stepping in to the duel, but I doubt that they will stand aside and let you step in either. You will be greatly outmatched."

"I can't not," Sirius said. "Now land this ship, before I figure it out for myself."

Nol nodded, manipulating the controls. As the ship landed, Nol ran out of the room and came back a moment later, handing Sirius a Tollan stun weapon.

"They are difficult to shield against," he explained. "You can shoot with this, and shield with your wand."

Sirius nodded his thanks and headed out of the room. A tone from the computer the only indication that they had landed.

IIIIII

Harry stopped firing at Voldemort. One hand used for defense, he used his other to start creating an energy field just behind and to the left of Voldemort. The effects not visible, it would look to an observer as though he was no longer able to keep up an offense. Ginny had long since expended most of her energy, and the spells she fired at Voldemort were weakened and less frequent. Voldemort himself seemed to think that victory was close at hand. He cast faster now, no longer encumbered by his need to defend from Harry.

Harry was alarmed when he realized that the Libertas was landing just to the side of the bowl of earth. Sirius couldn't be thinking of facing all of those Death Eaters himself. He finished the energy field behind Voldemort, and got ready to make his move.

It became clear that Voldemort thought that he had won the fight. Stopping the barrage of spells, Voldemort seemed to gather himself and, smiling cruelly, he cast a powerful spell. From his wand spewed fiend fire. Once released, the inferno seemed to have a mind of its own and it streamed forward towards Harry, who had nowhere to go, trapped as he was in his enclosure.

IIIIIII

Sirius found himself under heavy fire the moment he left the ship. It was all he could do to deflect what came his way. It was a good thing that all he had to do with the Tollan stun weapon was aim and shoot, but he barely had time to do more than keep himself from being killed.

Suddenly, everyone in the clearing was distracted when a bright light lit up the night. Sirius turned to where Harry was dueling with Voldemort and was alarmed to see fiend fire engulf the area where Harry was. He started running forward, casting a shield to cover his back, while he fired the stun weapon at Voldemort. The Dark Lord merely turned and sent a sickly purple spell at him. He dove to the right to avoid it, and came up to take another one to his chest. He was thrust backwards, and he felt a sickening crunch as several of his ribs broke. Lying on the ground, barely able to breath, he was forgotten as all eyes turned to the fiery inferno.

Eventually, Voldemort thrust out his wand and dissipated the fire. Sirius closed his eyes when he saw that nothing remained where his Godson had stood.

"The-Boy-Who- Lived is Dead!" he heard cried out.

IIIIIIII

Sidestepping next to Ginny, he formed a shield around the both of them, while he dragged Ginny to the side where they both crouched down so Harry could minimize the size of the shield. The shield withstood the fire, and the fire hid them from view. Harry turned himself and Ginny invisible and waited. While he waited for Voldemort to clear the fire to witness his victory, Harry worried about Sirius, who was out there alone. Moments passed, and both Harry and Ginny caught their breath as the fire raged around them. When Harry saw the fire start to dissipate, he prepared to release the shield while he used his energy to rapidly cool the air outside the shield. As far as Voldemort could tell, Harry and Ginny had been incinerated by the fire.

Voldemort threw back his head and cackled. "The Boy-Who-Lived is dead!" he called out, turning himself to his followers.

Harry prepared himself, he would have to angle everything carefully. He started gathering his power, preparing a massive spell. Perhaps sensing the energy coming from behind him, Voldemort turned back around. Still invisible, he released the powerful spell. Surprised, Voldemort faced towards where the spell had come from, not bothering to sidestep or shield from the bolt he could easily tell was going to miss him. As Harry had planned though, when the spell bounced off of the energy field he had erected, Voldemort had no time to dodge or shield from the spell that came at him from just three feet behind him.

The spell that struck Voldemort tore a hole through the wizard's lower back as he was propelled forward. Harry wasted no time in firing several more spells at Voldemort, mangling his arms, and binding him tightly. He would have preferred to have Voldemort conscious for what he was about to do, but he couldn't allow any possibility of escape. Several powerful stunners left him dead to the world. Harry made himself visible again.

"Who else wants to die today?" he asked the assembled Death Eaters, who were staring in shock at Harry. He really didn't feel up to more dueling.

Crouch started racing towards his master with a cry of rage. Harry prepared himself to battle Crouch, when the man was struck from behind. Harry's eyes found the wizard who had fired and felt a panic when he realized that it was Sirius. Lying sprawled on the ground, looking barely conscious, he still had a Tollan stun weapon pointed at where Crouch lay on the ground.

"He can't face us all," said one of the Death Eaters.

Suddenly, into the clearing flew a dozen people; some on broomstick, and some on thestrals. Harry thought he saw the other Champions, he definitely saw Dumbledore, as well as some witches and wizards in Auror robes. A pitched battle started, but Harry had something more important to see to.

Harry summoned Voldemort's body, it flew through the air and impacted the wards of Hogwarts, looking as though it had struck a pane of glass, before it fell to the ground. Harry wasted no time in walking up to the fallen Dark Lord. Ginny followed behind him.

"Ginny I need you to go over there and levitate my Godfather over here while I deal with Voldemort," he said.

Ginny looked at Harry with a conflicted look on her face before turning back to Voldemort, hatred smoldering in her eyes. She obviously felt a need to see what Harry was going to do to Voldemort, but she turned and ran towards Sirius.

Standing right at the end of his tether, he stood almost directly over Voldemort. He set a proximity alarm before he got to work. He held out his hands and closed his eyes. Working with subspace was incredibly difficult. Harry's mind fell back into his computer, and he accessed the data he had been working on concerning subspace. The energy matrix he needed was complicated, too complex to create without being able to see it's complexity in his minds eye. He focused on the matrix for a moment before he held a hand out, palm down, over Voldemort's chest. He created a portal directly over Voldemort's center mass. It wasn't physical, matter couldn't pass through, but his energy could. He linked the portal to Voldemort's body, and through the body, he had something of a window to the man's soul.

Ginny arrived back, Sirius floating behind her, and stopped to stare at what Harry was doing. Focusing on what he had derived from Merlin's notes, he released a blast of energy through the portal into subspace. There was no flash of light, Voldemort didn't start convulsing, nothing visible happened really; Voldemort was just dead, his soul had been destroyed. Harry felt for a moment as though he had been released from a burden, and he wondered if the Horcrux within himself had been destroyed along with the soul that it had anchored. Nol would be able to tell him later.

Harry held his hand close to Voldemort's head. Mimicking a healing device, he delved the body. It still lived, like a victim of a Dementor's Kiss, the body of a soulless being still functioned, but there was absolutely no higher function in the brain. Harry forced the heart to stop.

Harry spared a glance to where the Death Eaters where fighting those who had come to rescue him. Stuck where he was, there wasn't much he could do. He knelt down next to Sirius, and started healing him.

"Is that it?" asked Ginny. "Is he dead?"

"He's dead," Harry said, talking while he healed. "It's what you said about the Diary; that was a piece of Voldemort's soul, there were several. He broke them off to anchor himself to our reality. The process destabilized his soul, made it easier for me to destroy it just now. He's gone Ginny."

Ginny was silent for a moment. "I should go help them."

"You should stay right here," Harry said firmly. "You aren't bad slinging hexes around, and you definitely intervened at a very opportune moment there. But after that, I expended quite a bit of energy keeping you alive. Though perhaps..."

There were still a good number of Death Eaters still fighting. Dumbledore was certainly making quick work of anyone who found themselves in front of his wand, but those who had come to his aid had arrived outmatched two to one.

Harry cast an illusion on himself, and he seemed to grow to twice his height and, greatly amplifying his own voice, and mimicking the affect a symbiote had on it's hosts voice, he called out.

"**Voldemort is dead. Cast down your wands and surrender or face my wrath.**" He held out his hand towards one Death Eater who hadn't let himself be distracted by Harry's words, and the ground at the man's feet suddenly erupted sending the man into the air.

Most of the Death Eaters surrendered at that point, and Harry watched as the last couple of Death Eaters were incapacitated. It wasn't bad for a day's work.

A/N: When I started this project, I had originally thought that I would take it through to the end. That Harry would go through all three tasks. But the more I wrote it, the more I realized that this Harry couldn't have been contained that long,. I also didn't want the investigation of the champions to be completely useless, which they would have been if they hadn't managed to uncover Moody before the end of the tournament. Even before I realized that I would be ending it here, I had started writing the buildup to the end. So here it is, there'll be one or two more chapters left to write, and I'm happy to say that I will have time to write them now. But do not fear that the end of Isis' Bane will be the end of our time together. While I will no longer be writing for althor42, you can catch my future writings under The Lord of Chaos, and althor42 is still writing one of my favorite stories, The Horcrux Within. I hope to write a one shot before I go to bootcamp, but then there will be a considerable amount of time before I will start posting regularly. After bootcamp, I will have job training for five months, and then language training for about a year. So all told, I will be very busy for quite some time to come. But I have about a dozen stories churning around in here, that all want to come out. So if you're interested, you might want to add me to your author alerts. I hope to see all of my faithful reviewers again when I start writing once more after my training gets to a point where I will have time to write now and then. The next chapter of Goblet of Fire shouldn't be too long of a wait.

Please review, I read them all, and appreciate them so much.

The Lord of Chaos


	14. 13 Epilogue

Disclaimer: I created neither Harry Potter nor Stargate. I can only hope to one day be that awesome.

AN: So this took a while. I work at a theme park, and Summer has been crazy. But here it is, the final chapter of Goblet of Fire. I hope you all like it. Please read the author's note on the bottom.

Epilogue

The school had assembled and stood out on the snowy grounds, heads bowed as they listened to Headmaster Dumbledore speak words of memorial for Arnold Attkinson and Marie Ellis. After Crouch had been captured, he had been interrogated with Veritaserum. Along with his confession to tampering with the tournament, kidnapping Bertha Jorkins, and killing his own father, he had confessed to the murder of the two students, whose transfigured bodies had been found buried on the school grounds.

"...and though they are no longer with us, their memory lives on in all who knew them."

The Headmaster went on for a little while longer before ending the memorial. Harry eyed the four parents who stood together by one of the floral arrangements. Dumbledore spoke to them for a moment before heading back to the castle. A few students took his place, giving their condolences to the grieving parents.

"Did you want to head back to the Great Hall? Lunch is starting," said Neville.

"I'll see you later, actually," said Harry. "I need to talk to the champions."

Cedric was standing with the Attkinsons, so Harry flagged down Victor, who had just turned to head towards the castle with a group of other Durmstrang students. He turned to find Fleur, but saw that she was already making her way over to him. It had been a couple of days since the battle, but they hadn't yet had the opportunity to meet.

"You look much better than the last time I saw you," Victor told Harry, as he walked over.

"Mais oui, I 'eard zey 'ad to remove quite a beet of gravel from you, before zey could 'eal you." Fleur said.

"Only a bit," Harry said. "I'm mostly better now."

"Mostly?" asked Cedric, who had just joined them.

Harry waved his hand over his face, dispelling the illusion that covered his mutilated eye. He heard a small gasp from Fleur.

"I'm getting it replaced this afternoon," he said, replacing the glamor. "Actually, you can see it, if you'd like to join me for lunch at my place."

"Your place?" asked Fleur.

"What, like Mad Eye?" asked Cedric.

"You mean your ship?" Victor asked.

In a flash of light, they all soon found themselves aboard the Libertas.

"Woah," said Cedric.

The three champions were looking about themselves in awe.

"Harry," greeted Sirius. "And company, excellent. I've been cooking."

"You're supposed to let the kitchen do that," said Harry, "it's much more edible that way. Besides, you're supposed to be taking it easy."

"I have been taking it easy, and I'll have you know, that lunch will be excellent."

"You're Sirius Black," Cedric exclaimed

Harry had managed to get Sirius off of the battlefield soon after the fighting had stopped, and only Ginny Weasley had actually seen him.

"At your service, now who's up for lunch."

"It does appear edible, this time," said Nol, joining the group.

"Might I introduce Nol Aalon, a respected scientist among the Tollan people. And my Godfather, Sirius Black."

"You're from another world," said Cedric.

"I am," Nol affirmed.

"Nol, Sirius, this is Cedric Diggory the Hogwarts Champion, Fleur Delacour the Beauxbaton Champion, and Victor Krum, the Durmstrang Champion."

"Nice to meet you, it was fun watching you all in the first task." Sirius said, as he ushered them all into the dining room.

Harry saw that Sirius had made schpatsen, a Tok'Ra recipe that Sirius had butchered, but still managed to pull off decently now and then, as long as he didn't try to get creative. Sitting down, Harry was happy to see that it at least smelled good. The table adjusted the settings to the party.

"So, vat did you vant to talk about?" asked Victor, as he piled his plate high with the dish.

"Mostly I wanted to thank you for helping out during the battle, and before. I was glad we could work together. I also wanted to tell you that I will likely not be continuing with the tournament."

"You 'ave figured 'ow to unbind yourself?" Fleur asked.

"I have," Harry said. "Pending Ministry approval I will be given access to the Goblet of Fire. You should know, however, that when I unbind myself, you will be unbound as well."

"It is not only magic that binds us," Cedric said.

"Ve are bound by honor," Victor said.

"Of course," Harry said.

"So where weel you go now, once you are free?" asked Fleur.

"Off to fight aliens?" asked Cedric.

"I'm starting a research project actually. Somewhere very far away. Though I thought that I might drop by, if I have the time, for the third task. See how you all do."

"That'd be great," Cedric said.

"So," Sirius interjected. "Harry here's been very tight lipped on his date to the Yule Ball. Anyone know any good gossip?"

Harry groaned.

The rest of lunch was a light affair, and Harry was glad for a chance to meet with them without having a mystery to solve. After lunch, Harry took them to his lab to show them the eye he had built to replace his ruined one.

"It is metal," Victor noted.

"The ministry could probably get you a decent magical one. You could see through walls," Cedric noted.

Harry smiled, "This can do quite a bit more than that."

He picked it up and held it out to the older boy. Cedric smiled but shook his head. Fleur plucked it from his fingers and held it up to the light.

"Eet weel be quite unsettling; to see thees when I look at your face."

She passed it to Victor, who let it roll across his palm for a moment before handing it back to Harry.

"Built in illusion," said Harry. "Don't worry, it'll look alright." He consulted the time. "Come on, I'll show you off the ship. You probably don't want to watch my old eye getting removed."

Victor looked like he might disagree, but followed the rest of them out of the lab.

"Harry," Cedric said. "I was hoping to talk to you for a moment actually."

Harry looked at the others. "Sure," he said turning back to Cedric. Fleur and Victor walked off to give them privacy.

"I wanted to say sorry," Cedric started. Harry looked at him in confusion.

"After we figured out it was Mad Eye, I gave it away somehow. He wouldn't have grabbed you if I hadn't."

"Don't be sorry," Harry said. "If you hadn't figured it out that night, he would have tried to grab me sooner or later once he realized that I was going to be able to unbind myself. Probably would have done it when there weren't any witnesses. I would have had to face Voldemort and all those Death Eaters on my own. Thank you again, you've been a big help these past couple of months."

Cedric grinned at him. "I'm glad you brought us in on this. I'm still excited to see the tournament through to the end, but you were right in the beginning; the tournament wasn't important in the grand scheme of things, and I'm glad I was a part of something bigger."

Harry smiled, "Well there's plenty still out there, if you're looking for an adventure after Hogwarts."

They bade each other farewell and Harry saw the three Champions off of the ship.

"Ready for a new eye?" Sirius asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Harry said.

They walked into the lab.

"Are you going to watch?" Harry asked.

"Do I want to watch my godson have his eye removed?" asked Sirius. "I do believe that I've been told I should be taking it easy; so I think I'll have to pass."

"Oh well," Harry said, hopping up on the work table. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck," Sirius said, walking out of the room.

"I will start the procedure," Nol said from his seat in front of a terminal.

Harry laid back on the table, for the first time realizing that he was nervous. He had been excited at the prospect of enhancing his senses. However, while he had often used technology to augment his abilities, this would be the first time he would be replacing a part of himself with a machine.

A medical drone hovered out of the cabinet it was stored in and floated over his face. A wave of energy passed over him and the pain receptors in his face were temporarily neutralized. Two small arms extended, and the eyelids over his damaged eye were peeled back. Another arm extended and a narrow beamed energy cutter started separating the damaged tissue from his eye socket. With the dead eye removed, the drone cleaned the surviving tissue and with a small pop, the new eye was inserted. Harry waited patiently as the surrounding tissue was repaired, securing the eye in the socket. Another wave of energy reactivated the nerves in his face. It's job finished, the drone flew back to its place in the cabinet..

"How does it feel," Nol asked, as Harry sat up.

"It feels like an eyeball," Harry said. "I'm going to activate it."

With a thought the mechanical eye turned on, starting in natural vision. Harry looked around, smiling as his eyes worked in tandem.

"So far so good," he said.

He activated the enhanced vision features one by one. He could see the energy flowing through the ship, the magic that maintained various charms around the room, the heat differential between various objects. With another thought he was seeing through the wall, into the next room.

"Sirius," he called. "I can see you there. If you think I'm going to fall for a prank that simple, well that's just insulting."

There was muttered cursing from the next room.

"Everything is working well it seems," comented Nol.

"It is," Harry said. "And as my brain learns to process the greater information coming from my optic nerves, I can widen the field of view gradually until I can see every which way at once," he said with a grin.

He walked over to a mirror to take a look. His first impression was that he looked almost scary with the dead looking metallic eye looking back at him, but after a moment to get used to it he thought it looked rather cool. Still though, it would be best to have two normal looking eyes. He activated the built in illusion, and the eyes looking back at him in the mirror looked like the eyes he had been born with.

"If you would like, I can have a natural eye waiting for you on Tollana," Nol said standing next to Harry, frowning at Harry's reflection in the mirror.

As much as they embraced technology, the Tollans had a high level of respect for their natural bodies, and nature in general. Grown replacements were heavily preferred to mechanical analogues for anyone on Tollana who had a missing limb or organ. For all that they did everything to maximize their physical selves, the vast majority on Tollana refused to augment themselves with anything artificial. So while children on Tollana were given treatments to maximize brain development, none would be implanted with neural stimulators.

It was one of a few areas where Harry differed significantly from the people of his adopted home planet. There had been Tollan doctors, from time to time, who had offered to remove Harry's Hand device for him. They couldn't understand that to Harry, it wasn't just fused to him, it was a part of him.

"I think I'll be keeping this one for now," Harry told Nol.

"Let me take a look," Sirius said, coming into the room.

Harry turned to face his godfather, leaving the illusion in place.

"Looks good," Sirius commented.

"You're going to have to watch out," he told Sirius. "I'm going to be hard to sneak up on now."

"Challenge accepted," Sirius said.

"Come on Nol, let's get to work, see if you can't get me free from this tournament before the Ministry decides to give me that blasted Goblet."

Nol took the bait and they got to work.

As much of what Nol worked on still went over his head, Harry found himself contemplating the future of his body. Enhanced vision was but one option for him. He could enhance everything. The possibilities were endless.

IIIIIII

"And what of these Horcruxes?" asked Minister Bones. "What threat do they still pose?"

"As far as we can tell, they were destroyed along with Voldemort's soul, they could not survive without it," Harry explained. "The one that was attached to me is now gone."

"And this magic you used to destroy his soul, I must say Mr. Potter that it reeks of dark magic."

"But it was not magic," Harry said. "It was science. Science that was used to destroy a great evil."

"You can call it what you want, but the power to destroy the soul is not to be taken lightly."

"Then it is good that I have not known Mr. Potter to take anything lightly," Dumbledore said. The three of them were sitting in his office for tea, and Harry was slightly disappointed that the fare from the last such meeting was not present at this one.

"I think we can trust him not to spread this knowledge about."

"How many know how you killed Him?"

"From this planet? Just the two of you, my godfather, and Ginny Weasley."

"Can you convince her to keep this to herself?" asked the Minister.

"I already have, she has her own reasons for keeping silent on the matter."

"And those reasons are?"

"Her own," Harry said firmly.

The minister pursed her lips but did not press the matter.

"When will you be releasing Severus Snape?" Harry asked.

"It is not our policy to discuss ongoing criminal investigations," Madam Bones said crisply.

"He was not there to fight for Voldemort, he saved my life, and were it not for him, Voldemort would be at large."

"Do you know, Mr. Potter, what one must do to be initiated into Voldemort's inner circle?"

Harry shook his head 'no'.

"In order to carry that mark, one must commit terrible crimes. Each and every Death Eater is guilty of murder. Severus Snape was never pardoned for his crimes during the first war. His crimes were ignored because Albus told us he had turned spy, but that does not excuse the crimes he has committed. With the dementors gone, some time in Azkaban while we satisfy ourselves that he is on the strait and narrow path will do him little harm."

"I had hoped that my assurances still held weight with you," said Dumbledore.

"They do," said the Minister. "But twenty-five Death Eaters were detained three nights ago, twenty-five Death Eaters who escaped justice thirteen years ago and who were prepared to re-enter his service at his summons. You must forgive me if I want certainty that that won't happen again; the people want that certainty."

"Voldemort is dead," Harry said. "Forever. You can be certain that he will not return. As well, with his actions that night, you can be certain that Severus Snape is no longer a loyal Death Eater. What's more, I will have need of him when I leave."

Dumbledore showed quite a bit of surprise. "You intend to remove my Potions Master from this planet? Have you consulted with him in this matter."

"Not yet, but I expect he will accept my offer, the need for his services is great, and I think I can play to his character."

"What need could you have for the man?" asked Minister Bones.

"I'm afraid certain matters are still classified, but you can continue your investigation into his background while he is gone with the certainty that he isn't causing trouble here on Earth, and if you decide that he has not atoned for the crimes of his past, you can consider him permanently exiled from your world. In the meantime he will be working to improve the stability and the safety of a great many."

"We were led to believe that there is peace now, that there is no danger."

"There is peace, be assured of that. But there is a plague of sorts affecting a number of planets and a great many lives are at risk. These planets do not have access to our gate network, so you need not fear it affecting Earth. I have need of a potions master of Professor Snape's caliber."

Minister Bones seemed to take this in stride.

"Then in the interest of humanitarian needs, he will be released," Minister Bones said. "But I will decide if he deserves a pardon for his crimes only after a full investigation. Exile certainly sounds like a happy alternative though. One other thing Mr. Potter. I am already aware that the you have ripped the Statute of Secrecy to shreds. But the greater muggle population is still unaware of our existence. With all of this disclosure going on, what plans are there in regards to the wizarding world?"

"There are no plans to disclose the wizarding world. As far as the declassified documents show, speculation as to the origin of my abilities include alien heritage. That my abilities have been scientifically explained leaves less room for the assumption of magic. But Minister, the world has changed quite dramatically since the inception of the Statute. Perhaps the time is ripe to start discussions to end the statute. Whether you like it or not, the muggles will eventually have the technology to detect magic."

"And we will deal with that when it comes, but do not forget, Mr. Potter, that there are still countries where people are put to death for practicing witchcraft."

"Perhaps," the Headmaster began, "now would be a good time to tell Mr. Potter what the Wizengamot has decided."

The Minister nodded. "Mr. Potter," she began. "It is the decision of the Wizengamot and myself that you should be awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class. There will be an award ceremony in two days time."

Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes, it seemed that everyone wanted to give him an award.

"I've been hoping that in a couple of days the Department of Mysteries will have finished reviewing my proposal and made the Goblet of Fire available to me."

"They report that they agree with your proposal, but wish to run some more tests before they allow you to proceed. It may be available to you around then."

Harry supposed that he would have to be satisfied with that. Madame Bones finished her tea.

Rising, she addressed the Headmaster. "Headmaster Dumbledore, thank you for your hospitality. Mr. Potter, I will see you in a two days time." The Headmaster and Harry rose, and Harry shook her hand. With that, the Minister of Magic left through the Floo leaving Harry alone with the Headmaster.

"You could of course stay, Harry," the Headmaster said. "You can always find a home here at Hogwarts. It is not your duty to save the universe; you still have time to enjoy your youth."

"You want me to spend a few more years as a student teacher?" Harry asked with a smile. "Headmaster, I must confess that in spite of everything, I did enjoy much of my time here. But I have a purpose out there, and I'm not giving that up. There are quite a few who need the skills that I have."

"You could serve a purpose here as well, Harry. You have already done so much good for our world."

"It isn't the same. I think you are soon to be faced with a lot of change professor. I hope you weather it well, but I do not intend to take part."

"Then I hope you will return from time to time," the Headmaster said without much disappointment.

"I expect I will. I think I'd like to see how your society progresses from here," Harry said as he made his way to the door.

They bade each other farewell before Harry went down the moving spiral staircase.

He decided to find some of the friends he had made among the students and see about having a fly. Walking through the halls, several of the students stopped to stare at him, and he supposed he couldn't blame them. The reporters who had been present when he had fought Voldemort had all published detailed articles about the encounter, one had given an interview on the wireless. Add that incident to the Skeeter article about his extraterrestrial activities, and he supposed the students saw him as something of a legend walking among them. He had found himself giving out an embarrassing amount of autographs, particularly to the younger students.

"Oh Mr. Potter, can I please have your autograph," a faux girlish voice asked behind him.

Harry grinned, turning around. "Perhaps I should be asking you the same Miss Wessley."

Ginny scowled at him. "My father gets in the paper enough, you'd think they would get the name right."

All of the articles that had been printed about the battle had included Ginny's opportune intervention, but the Prophet article had managed to misspell 'Weasley'.

"I'm surprised to see you without your brother, I had heard he hasn't let you out of his sight since he found out you fought Voldemort."

"A few hexes solved that problem," she said sweetly. "Perhaps I shouldn't be letting you out of my sight. Make sure I don't need to save your butt again."

Harry grinned. "Well I suppose I could use a personal bodyguard, we'll have your brothers supply you with a bigger arsenal of fireworks. Although, Padma might get jealous; first I step out on our date, and then I start spending all of my time with another girl."

"Well, I guess you'll just have to finish your date. There's a Hogsmeade weekend coming up first week when term starts back up. I could come along, as your bodyguard of course. I'll keep those reporters off of you if I have to Filibuster the whole town."

"I'm afraid I'll probably have left before then."

Ginny's whimsical mood seemed to falter before it came back. "Breaking out of this prison then?"

"With any luck, in a couple of days, yes. I guess I won't need you to blow up any dark lords after that."

"I could come with you," she said smirking. "I'm sure there's trouble enough out there to be getting on with."

"Mmm, then Padma would really get jealous."

"I'm serious Harry," Ginny said earnestly. "I can't just..."

They both stopped in the middle of the hall, and Harry waited patiently while Ginny gathered her thoughts.

"After what you said; after fighting Him, I told myself that I could move on, that I had avenged something, that I had made up for what happened, but... I don't feel better. I don't feel like anything's changed, I still..." She stopped, not seeming able to put exactly what she felt into words.

"Fighting evil, saving a life; it isn't going to magically change how you feel about what happened to you, or to the other victims of Tom Riddle's Diary. But it was a good step towards healing yourself. Fighting Voldemort, helping me; it was important to your being able to move on from what was done to you. The rest comes from working with yourself, and the people who care about you, to heal over time. You aren't going to find that by leaving the planet."

Ginny shook her head. "No, I need... You're going out there to fight for something, I need that. I can't just stay here and..."

"And live your life?" Harry finished. "I didn't find peace with myself by fighting evil, that came later. You won't find closure out there, you will only be hiding from the trauma that has done this to you."

"But facing Him, it felt... I haven't... I don't want to feel hollow anymore. For two years I've gone to class, and pretended I'm fine, that I'm normal, that I had nothing to do with my classmates being attacked, as if I had nothing to do with Ernie's death. I've tried everything to just feel anything but guilt and anger, and I did, when I got to fight, when I faced Tom. But that's gone now, I need that. I need more. I need something to fight for. I need to do something good. You can give me that."

"And you could chase that feeling across the galaxy, through countless battles, fight injustice and wrong at every turn. But you wouldn't be chasing wellness, you'd just be filling the void with so much adrenalin and exhaustion that you could fool yourself to think that you were alright, but you wouldn't be. It would still be there with you."

"Maybe there is no getting better, maybe filling the void is enough."

"Till it gets you killed," Harry said shaking his head.

"Well then maybe that would even my debt," she said darkly.

"No," Harry said harshly. "Getting yourself killed won't balance any scales. Your mothers tears over your grave won't do anyone any good. If you want something to fight for, you can start with yourself. You need closure not more death. Not yours, and not the blood of whatever evil you find to fight."

"Then what do I do?"

"I've already given you my opinion on the matter. I've already told you where you can begin, how I began."

Ginny shook her head. "I can't, how can I face them. How could I tell them. I killed their son. They could never forgive me."

"Tom Riddle killed their son."

"I could have stopped him, but I didn't, I hid what was happening to me. How could anyone forgive that."

"Do not underestimate the powers of others to forgive. But it isn't just about forgiveness. Keeping this secret is part of the problem, you said so yourself. You need to face what has happened to you, what you did and didn't do. Only then can you begin to move on."

"But what if I can't? What if I never feel better?"

"You can, and you will. You can't let fear of failure stop you from trying. You have nothing to lose."

"No," Ginny said quietly. "I suppose I don't."

"That's not what I meant. You have people who love you. Your family knows what happened, and it's obvious to everyone that your brothers love you. They know and they haven't turned from you."

"Ron thinks I'm weak. They all think that I've been messed up by what happened. That I need to be protected."

"He thinks that he'd rather not see anything bad happen to his little sister, however strong she is. He cares about you too much not to want to protect you. And he can help you, if you let him, if you tell him how. You won't be in this alone."

Ginny seemed to stare through Harry for a moment.

"Why do you fight?"

"Because I have the power to do good. To save lives. Sometimes that means fighting an evil, sometimes that's healing, and sometimes that's just doing research, or working out a problem. I fight when someone needs someone to fight for them and I can. But it's been a long time since I've fought because I felt I had something to make up for. That it could fix me. That I had something to avenge. I still mourn for what Isis did with me, did to me. But it no longer consumes my life, and it didn't stop until I stopped fighting and faced my feelings of guilt. I never found closure in battle, only more blood on my hands. I found closure by going back and moving on, and with the help of people who cared about me. You can too, you just need to try."

Ginny closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I can try," she said.

A bell tolled, signaling the hour.

"Damn," Ginny said. "Late for detention." she turned to go, trying to hide the signs of tears on her face.

"What did you do to get a detention during the Holidays?" Harry asked.

"Didn't you hear? Apparently flying into the Forbidden Forest to fight dark wizards after you've been ordered to your dormitory shows an extreme lack of judgment. Professor McGonnagall thinks detention every day till classes start up should cure what ails me."

"Sorry to hear that," Harry said. Though he didn't feel hypocritical at all to silently agree with the Deputy Headmistress.

"It's something to do," Ginny said.

"Will you be alright?" Harry asked.

"It's just detention."

"You know what I mean."

"I'll be alright," she said. "Really, I will. I'll work on it." She sighed. "I'll try."

They stopped outside Professor McGonagall's classroom.

"Good luck," Harry said as they parted.

He would have to talk to her Head of House about proper treatment later. He wanted to make sure Ginny would be alright after he left.

Making his way to the Gryffindor common room, he came across Ron and Hermione as he passed by the library. They were heading to the common room as well.

"I was just going to check to see if anyone wanted to go flying," Harry said.

"I'm in," said Ron.

"Oh honestly," said Hermione. "It's freezing."

"I can warm up the pitch," Harry said.

"Great," Ron said. "Let's get a group together."

They continued on to the common room; Ron stopping the occasional student in passing to announce the impromptu gathering.

"So," Ron started after a lull in conversation. "You've been flying around the galaxy all this time?"

"Yep."

"Cool," was Ron's estimation.

"What's it like?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know," Harry said. "I suppose it's a bit like traveling the world, and meeting all the different cultures. Learning about what makes them different, and often finding what makes us all similar. Always something new."

"So the whole Galaxy is just populated with humans?" Hermione asked.

"There are a few other sentient species out there we've come across. For the most part, even they are a lot like us."

"So what's it take to get a trip to another planet?" Ron asked.

"That's going to depend on a lot," Harry said. "But at the rate that technology is advancing here on earth now, there could easily be a time in your future when civilians can buy tickets for interstellar travel. In the meantime, I'm sure there's plenty to see and do here on Earth to keep you entertained."

"Maybe," Ron said, unconvinced.

"Harry," Hermione said. "Do you ever wonder what your life would have been like if you had never left Earth?"

Harry had wondered; long before he had come to Hogwarts he had wondered. Who would he be if not for Isis? What would he stand for if he had not fought the Goa'uld. How would he have turned out after several more years with the Dursleys? Indoctrinated by the socially medieval wizarding world? Would Anubis have won? Would any of the Tollans still live? How many people would be dead now, and how many alive? He had long ago realized the futility of what-ifs. Though it had never stopped him from wondering.

"I suppose we'll never know," he said. "Where do you suppose your life would have gone if you had never found out you were a witch."

"Oh, I don't know. I suppose everything would be different. Everyone I know besides my family is from the wizarding world. My whole future revolves around it."

"Well I for one am glad you're a witch," Ron said.

Harry then noticed something he should have noticed before, the two teens were holding hands. He had seen them together at the Ball, but he hadn't known if they had just gone as friends or not. Harry smiled, happy for the two.

The three of them continued on to the common room together.

IIIIIII

"Potter," Severus Snape said with disdain, as Harry walked into the man's office. Perhaps it would have been a good idea to let the man get settled after his return from Azkaban, but then again, for whatever reason, the man would hate him just as much an hour from now as he did at the moment.

"Professor Snape," Harry said. "I wanted to come by and see how you are. And also to thank you. If it weren't for you I would have likely died."

"I did not do it for you, so your thanks are unnecessary, and as you can see, I am fine. Now go." He returned his attention to the book he was reading at his desk, for all the world, looking as though he had completely forgotten that Harry was in the room.

"I also came with an offer. A chance to do a great deal of good off world."

Professor Snape's lip curled. "Saint Potter, come down to the dungeons, to save me I dare say. I neither need your help nor want it. Now you can take your offer and leave."

"Perhaps you do need saving. Minister Bones is eager to investigate your involvement in Voldemort's ranks. I don't think she'd lose any sleep to see you spend some years in Azkaban. Besides I didn't come to you to save you from that, I came because there are a great many out there who need saving. I've done my research, and you're the best in your field. Your talents have been wasted at a job you don't want. Your publications, though few, are far beyond your contemporaries. There's amazing work to be done. I'm assembling a team to take a problem head on, and I want you to be a part of it."

"I will be pardoned; my recent actions, and the Headmaster will see to that. And yes, I am done with teaching, but I see no need to do 'amazing work' with you. I will be free to do that here."

"After Grindewald, did anyone ever publish another article written by Stalinski. He escaped prison, but being the best in his field didn't seem to be enough after the association was common knowledge. He died a pariah, his works unread, his name showing up only in books about the war, not in charms periodicals. Unmourned."

"How did you..."

"I told you, I've done my research. I'm offering you a chance to work where people don't even know His name. A clean slate. The work you will be doing will be far greater than anything any other potions master here on Earth will come across. You could help save millions of lives."

"The Muggle governments have assured us that there is peace and stability in the galaxy. What danger could there be to save millions of lives from?"

"There is peace, for the most part, across the galaxy, yes. After that, I'm afraid I can't say anything more that isn't still a secret."

"You expect me to agree to work with you without knowing what I'm to be doing."

"Of course not, I need only a magically binding vow from you that you will not disclose anything I am about to tell you to anyone on Earth."

"And if you tell me that you are planning to take over the wizarding world?"

"I'd hardly need your help to do that," Harry said. "But very well, you need only vow that you will not disclose anything I am about to say pertaining to extraterrestrial matters."

Professor Snape gave him a cold, penetrating look, and Harry could still see a great deal of animosity in the man's eyes.

He took out his wand and held it out. "I do hereby swear and avow that I will not disclose any matters concerning extraterrestrials spoken to me by Harry Potter today unless he releases me from this vow."

Harry smiled. He held his hand out and an image appeared across the room.

"These are the wraith, they are the dominant power in the Pegasus galaxy right now."

The image changed.

"And this is what the wraith feed on."

"Humans?" Snape asked.

"Yes," Harry said. "There are millions of people spread out across the Pegasus Galaxy. The wraith have been hibernating for some time, but they woke up recently and they've started culling their human prey. Thousands have been killed already, and they have only just begun. But it gets worse. They are aware of Earth, that there is life in our galaxy. They currently are not advanced enough to make the journey to the Milky Way, but you can be assured that they are working on that problem, and may eventually work out how to get to their new feeding grounds. Earth is still the most heavily populated planet in any explored galaxy that we know of, and they are eager for our abundance. You would be working with scientists, and other experts to neutralize the Wraith threat, and to help those who survive the Wraith feeding process."

"They may find Earth, but they will not find the wizarding world."

"Is that all you care about?"

"I do not need the likes of you to judge me," Snape said, standing angrily.

"Then perhaps you yourself should," Harry shot back.

Snape gave him a hateful look.

"What will you be doing?" Snape shot back, a non sequitur.

"I'll be coordinating this project, for the most part. Fighting in battles as needed."

Snape's eyes narrowed.

"I will be joining you. If only to make sure that you and those muggles don't lead an alien horde straight to my doorstep."

He looked like he was quite upset to be agreeing to Harry's proposal.

"Excellent, I'll look forward to working with you," Harry said, unsure how the conversation had turned around.

"I do not," Snape said curtly. "Now get out of my office."

"Be prepared to be gone for some time," Harry said as he made his way out. "I'm ordering quite a variety of supplies, but let me know if there is anything you will need."

It had turned out that Harry's parents had left him a small fortune, and Harry had been making good use of mail orders.

IIIIIII

"And so, by decree of the Wizengamot, I hereby award Harry James Potter the Order of Merlin, First Class."

There was quite a bit of applause, and several flashes went off as Minister Bones pinned him with the golden medal. Harry shook her hand as more camera's clicked away. They were outside, in the village square of Hogsmeade, the winter chill kept away by numerous charms, and a large crowd had gathered to see the award ceremony. Harry had had to suffer through a few longwinded speeches, made by various Ministry dignitaries, before the Minister had stood to give the award. Soon, however, he would be rewarded for his patience.

As he and the Minister stepped off of the small stage that had been conjured from the ground, Harry shook a few more hands before he made his way to the champions.

"Ready to go?" he asked.

They all nodded, and the Headmaster joined them, having walked over from his place by some of the ministry officials. Together they made their way to the thestral drawn carriage that they had arrived in. The trip up to the castle was quick, and Harry found himself nervous as he headed up to the castle. If this didn't work, he might be stuck until the end of the tournament. After a trek through the castle, Harry found himself riding up the spiraling staircase to the Headmaster's office for the first time. He had always shot himself up previously.

"I trust it is ready," he said, as he approached the two Unspeakables from the Ministry's Department of Mysteries, who were waiting in the office with an Auror who was standing next to an ornate wooden box.

"It is Mr. Potter," said the more senior looking of the two Unspeakables.

"I must say, after we had found that you had been bound to the tournament, a couple of us in the department spent a bit of time trying to figure out how to unbind you. If only because we like a challenge," the younger man said enthusiastically.

"Spent quite a bit of time delving the Goblet, and researching magical theory. Loxly had a couple of walls covered with runes and arithmancy equations. I suppose it was a bit of a letdown that the solution may be so simple."

Harry grinned. "Oh, is that why you've been stalling these past few days? Trying to find your own solution?"

"Well, we had to make sure it was safe. I wasn't about to sign off on a plan that could potentially kill the boy-who-lived and the best and brightest students in Europe."

"It is safe though?" Cedric asked.

"Yes," the younger man rushed to say. "We won't be tampering with the magic that binds you to compete. We'll be... Actually, since it was Mr. Potter's idea, I suppose he should explain it."

"Oh, it was Crouch's idea really. The Goblet is powerful indeed, and it's got its own sort of primal intelligence to boot. An intelligence that Crouch was able to Confund into thinking that there were four schools competing instead of three. What we'll be doing, is Confunding the Goblet into thinking that the Second, and then the Third task are taking place. After which, it will consider the tournament over and release us all. Besides, with the help of a friend, I believe I've found a way to ward us against any magical backlashes incase anything does go wrong."

"Perhaps Mr. Potter, some day you would like to settle down into the Department of Mysteries."

Harry laughed, "I don't think I will ever settle down."

"So, vat are ve vaiting for?" Victor asked.

"Nothing really," Harry said. "If you would," he asked, motioning to the Auror standing next to the wooden box. The man lifted the lid and drew forth the Goblet.

Harry erected a ward around the champions and himself.

"Headmaster, if you would like to perform the honors."

"I thought you would, 'Arry," Fleur said.

"The process is simple enough, but I don't actually have any experience with the spell and I'd rather not leave anything to chance."

The Headmaster drew his wand. "If we are all ready?"

There were several nods of affirmation, and with a slash of his wand and a confident "Confundus," the task was done.

Harry used the Tollan made subspace scanner to verify that he and the other champions were no longer bound by the Gobblet.

"Well that's that," Harry said. "Cedric, Fleur, Victor, it's been a pleasure. Headmaster thank you for your hospitality. I do apologies for leaving you with a need to find a new potions master and a Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, right before winter term."

"Have no fear, I have already secured replacements, besides the training aids you left for the upper level Defense classes more than makes up for the difficulty."

"Then I shall go collect Professor Snape and take my leave."

He made further farewells to the Champions, who had become his friends, and left the office.

Turning towards the dungeons, he was surprised to come across Padma Patil.

"Rumor says you're leaving today," she said.

"I should hope you know better than to believe every rumor you hear."

"I also saw that Auror bring in the Goblet of Fire."

"This time, then, the rumor is true."

"You weren't going to say anything?"

"I've had enough fanfare for today actually, but I've left some notes, saying good bye."

"But the class; it was for nothing."

"Nothing? Of course not. The class was only ever a foundation."

"So what now then?"

"Now you explore magic and the universe around you. You learn how the world works and you figure out how magic interacts with it. The wizarding world has a lot to learn, and discover. I don't think I'd be wrong to say that I think you would like to be a part of that."

"I do," she said. She sighed. "It has been nice knowing you, I'm sorry to see you leave. Will you ever come back?"

"I hope so," Harry said. "I want to see how you will do with your research, and maybe some day we can finish our date."

Padma smiled at that. "Perhaps one with less excitement. Though I must say, that up until the end, I had quite a bit of fun."

"I did too," Harry said. "So until we meet again, just remember that I still owe you a couple of dances."

"Yes, well, until then you'll have this to remember me by."

With that she took a step forward, put a hand on his shoulder and leaned in to kiss him on his lips.

Harry's eyebrows shot up in surprise, and just as he started to figure out what his part in the affair should entail, it was over. Padma smiled shyly at him and left without another word, leaving Harry slightly stunned.

Shaking his head, he decided that he would definitely have to try that again at some point, preferably when he was ready for it.

IIIIIIII

"You're sure you have everything on my list? I do not wish to get there and find that I have no Bicorn Horn to work with."

"Everything and quite a bit more besides. Trust me Professor, I've been quite thorough. Besides the trip isn't that long. It's only a week, which will be plenty of time for you to brush up on everything you'll need to know about the Pegasus Galaxy."

"But I do not trust you, Potter; and it will be a week in your company. So you will have to forgive me for wanting to make sure that I make this trip as few times as possible. I can't even imagine; floating about some metal box for a week with no one but a Potter."

Ah, Harry thought, it did have something to do with his father. Professor Snape had yet to explain his intense dislike for Harry, and Harry was content to let the man keep it to himself so long as he was able to keep it from interfering with his work.

"We won't be floating professor, my ship has its own gravity. And it won't just be me, either. I'll be picking up a charms expert I've been corresponding with this past week in Japan, and a Runes expert from Egypt." Harry had felt bad for asking Professor Flitwick and Professor Babbling, since that would have been four professors the headmaster would have had to replace. They had both declined his offer however.

"Besides, if you prefer the company of yourself, you will have your own room onboard, and you can keep your own hours. You need not interact with anyone else the entire week." This would likely keep everyone happy.

"That would be preferable," said the dower professor.

"We're here," Harry said as they stepped out onto the grounds.

Professor Snape looked about, as though expecting to see the ship parked out on the lawn. Harry decided to let the man see the ship he would be flying in and made it visible before pointing up for the man. Snape took a sharp breath at the sight, and Harry grinned, proud of the ship he had designed.

"This won't hurt a bit," he said.

He beamed the both of them up into the ship.

"Let me show you to your room, and you can get settled."

They walked out of the transport room and into the lounge.

"Ah, hello Severus, I didn't quite believe it when Harry said you would be joining him. I'm glad to see you look well."

"Lupin," Snape said with disdain, before his eyes went wide with fury. "Black!" he said, drawing his wand and aiming it at Sirius.

Harry quickly removed the wand from his hand.

"You should know by now that Crouch confessed under Veritaserum to having found Peter Pettigrew through the Dark Mark they shared, and using his life force to power the Reverse Portkey that brought me back to Earth. You know that Pettigrew was in hiding as a rat after he faked his death, framing Sirius. You should therefore know that Sirius is innocent of the crimes of which he was accused."

Professor Snape sneered hatefully at Harry's godfather.

"Will he be joining us?" he asked.

"I'm dropping him off on Tollana before we head on out."

Professor Snape held out his hand and Harry gave him his wand back, which was put back in the holster the man kept it in.

"My quarters?" was all he said.

"Right this way," Harry said, leading the man out of the room. He continued to remind himself that Snape was the best Potions Master in the world; would likely be invaluable in Pegasus, and that he had helped save Harry's life.

Reaching the door to the man's room, Harry used his enhanced vision to check for any of Sirius's pranks. They wouldn't likely go over well at the moment. Banishing the bucket of water over the door, Harry showed the man in.

"Washroom is over there, and that's your closet. Here is your computer terminal. I've prepared a tutorial for you on what I think you'll need to know about the Wraith and their technology. The computer is fairly self explanatory, but the tutorial starts with an overview of how to use it. Just tap the green icon right there."

"You may go," Snape said, and Harry suppressed the urge to act his age.

"We leave in ten minutes, though you shouldn't notice any changes in the ship. After we pick up the others, I expect to leave Earth in about two hours. In case you want to watch us leave Earth behind."

Harry left without anything further.

"Are you sure you want to put up with that?" Remus asked, as Harry walked back into the lounge.

"I'm sure I want his brain working on the problems I'll have him working on."

"Well good luck with that then."

"Sirius, have you told Remus why I asked him to join us before we departed?"

"I thought I'd leave that up to you," Sirius said with a grin.

"Right, so, Remus, I take it you'd rather not have Lycanthropy, right?"

"Well of course, why? Do you want to take me out into space where there are no full moons?"

"I actually thought I'd just cure you," Harry said, pointing a small device he pulled from a pocket at Remus.

Remus's eyes widened. "You can cure me?" he asked.

"Just did actually." He tossed the small device to Remus, who fumblingly caught it.

"But it's incurable," Remus protested.

"I rather don't like that word," Harry said.

"But really..."

"Oh just wait a few days and see for yourself," Sirius said.

"You really did?"

"I did."

Harry soon found himself in a tight embrace.

"Thank you," Remus said, choked up.

"No need, really. It was a simple thing. I have something much bigger to ask of you."

"Anything."

"Take this," he indicated the device. "And cure any werewolf who wants it."

"How do I..."

"It's point and click really, you shouldn't have any trouble using it. But I know that there are a couple of werewolf communities out there who won't take kindly to the suggestion that they need to be cured, so be careful."

"I will, but I think I should be saying the same to you."

"I'm always careful," Harry said with a grin.

Sirius gave a derisive snort.

"Anyway, I don't need saving, so you really don't need to look for me once you've finished. Besides, I'll come and visit now and then."

"Sooner, rather than later," Remus said.

"Here here," Sirius affirmed.

After a few more thanks and admonishments for care, Harry showed Remus off of the Libertas.

Queuing up the engines for flight, Harry set a course for Egypt.

"So," Sirius said. "You destroyed the dementors."

"Yep."

"Obliterated the man who killed your parents and wanted to take over the world."

"Did that to."

"Cured a horrible illness, and inspired a generation of young witches and wizards to pursue science."

"Is this going anywhere?"

"Yet you still haven't kissed a girl."

"Did that actually, about an hour ago,"

"No! Who?" Sirius asked excitedly.

"Now that would be telling."

"Wait, did you kiss her, or did she kiss you?"

"What difference does it make?"

"Says the boy who didn't make the first move."

"I did make the first move, I asked her out to a ball."

"Ah so it was Padma."

Harry scowled, and Sirius ruffled his hair.

"Are you ready to get back to Tollana?"

"Can't wait. I left my research project unfinished, and that woman who checks up on me now and then to make sure I'm not going to accidentally blow up the planet is very cute. What about you, you're not going to miss everything here? Girls your own age, broomsticks, a tournament you could totally win. You could always stay a bit longer."

"Nope, one adventure over, another one starts. Or in this case starts again. Besides, I got a broomstick delivered, so I can fly around Atlantis."

"Well at least you have your priorities. Come on then, lets have some lunch."

Harry really was very glad to be getting back to Atlantis, his work there was very important, so many people in the Pegasus Galaxy had been culled since he left. Thinking back though, he couldn't deny, that while he had been forced to stay at Hogwarts, he had had a good time. There really was something relaxing about being able to make friends with others his own age, to being able to forget about the problems of the universe. He rather liked to think that he had gained something from the experience, if only the experiences themselves. He knew that he wouldn't be a teenager forever, and in the years to come he doubted he would have many other opportunities to just be normal. Though thinking about it some more, he realized that much of what he had experienced at Hogwarts hadn't been normal at all, but still.

After he had finished assembling the team he was taking back to Atlantis, gotten everyone settled, and dropped Nol and Sirius off on Tollana, Harry settled down in his room and thought about where the future would take him.

AN: There it is, what do you think? This is my first crack at writing fanfiction, and I'm very happy it went as well as it did. I hope you all have enjoyed this journey, I only ask that if you did, that you take one final opportunity to review this story. I have always read each and every one of them.

While I was beta reading one of althor42's chapters for Horcrux Within, there was one scene where I commented that it would make for good fan art. For those of you who read it, and I hope you all do, it's the picture Collin took of Harry after the Dobby/Bludger incident. It got me thinking. If there's one artistic talent I lack, (there are a few) I'd have to say that it is my ability to draw. So I am hoping that anyone out there who likes to draw, whether you think you're good or not, would draw their favorite scene from any of these stories and share it with the rest of us. I'm talking to althor42 about a yahoo group or something, since the site this is posted on won't help us out.

Anyway, you've all been fantastic readers, and I will miss writing for you while I'm at boot camp... assuming nothing happens to delay me this time. BTW, this time they'll be sending me to Georgia. I'm almost finished with a one-shot that popped into my head a month or so ago. You can find it soon on my profile The Lord of Chaos (don't forget the 'the', or you'll get another author).

B/N: A yahoo group has been created, check out althor42FF.


End file.
